No pout-pouting here

Grand Ledge author’s best-selling children’s book adapted into an animated movie

For children’s book author Deborah Diesen, “The Pout-Pout Fish” is the gift that keeps on giving.

Not only was it a New York Times best-seller, but it was also named one of Time magazine’s top 10 children’s books of 2008 and was selected for the Michigan Reads! literacy program. In 2019, it was adapted into a musical that debuted at the New Victory Theater in Manhattan, New York.

On March 20, an animated movie of the same name hit theaters. A who’s who of celebrities lent their voices to the film, including Nick Offerman (“The Last of Us”), Nina Oyama (“Utopia”), Amy Sedaris (“BoJack Horseman”), Miranda Otto (“The Lord of the Rings”), Remy Hii (“Spider-Man: Far from Home”) and “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks.

“Having ‘The Pout-Pout Fish’ book turn into a movie is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’m very excited!” Diesen, of Grand Ledge, said. “It also all feels more than a little surreal. But seeing the movie with my family and friends will make it all real. I’m really looking forward to that.”

The story chronicles an unlikely duo: Mr. Fish (Offerman), a pouty recluse, and Pip (Oyama), a high-energy leafy seadragon. When catastrophe strikes, they must embark on a daunting undersea quest in search of a mythical, wish-granting fish to save their homes.

The book was inspired by a real-life pout all the way back in 2002, according to Diesen. Her eldest of two children was having a bit of a pouty day.

“I made a silly, pouty face at them to try to amuse them. It worked: They smiled, then made a silly, pouty face back at me,” Diesen recalled. “We got to pouting back and forth, and I said, ‘We look like fish. Like pout-pout fish!’ As soon as I said that, it triggered a story idea. I jotted down a couple of lines on a scrap of paper and worked on the story in the days and weeks to come.”

After some revisions, Diesen began submitting “The Pout-Pout Fish” to publishers. In 2004, she received a call from an editor at Farrar, Straus, & Giroux Books for Young Readers. She signed a contract, and Dan Hanna, who lives in California and has a background in animation, was brought on as illustrator. It was not only Diesen’s first book, but also Hanna’s.

The finished product hit shelves on March 18, 2008.

“Because we were both first timers, the expectation was that it would probably take a while for the book to find its audience. But the book did better than expected in the months after its release, hitting The New York Times’ best-sellers list in September, and it had some additional recognition, like being on the Time magazine list,” Diesen said. “It was all very unexpected, but it created some momentum. Because of the book doing well, our editor asked about a sequel, which Dan and I enthusiastically said yes to! ‘The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark’ came out in 2010.”

From there, the series continued to grow, focusing on social and emotional learning. Over the years, Mr. Fish has faced his fear of the dark and his anxiety over going to school. He’s learned how to stand up to bullies and how to care for the environment. He’s developed bedtime routines, learned resilience skills for traveling, honed his gift-giving skills and figured out how to cope with angry feelings.

“It’s been an amazing experience to see the series expand and evolve over the past 18 years,” Diesen said. “I’m honored to have hopefully played some small role in kids’ learning to feel more comfortable with their emotional landscape and capacities.”

The youngest of three, Diesen was born and raised in Midland. She earned a bachelor’s degree in multidisciplinary social science from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Michigan.

“When I was a kid, my parents read a lot to us, so I loved books and reading from the get-go,” Diesen recalled. “When I was in third grade, I started to have an interest in creative writing. The first piece of creative writing I remember doing was a rhyming poem about a butterfly. My parents, teachers and school librarians all encouraged my interest in writing, and that encouragement has always stuck with me.”

It wasn’t until she had children of her own that she considered writing children’s books.

“When my kids were little, we went to the library every week and came home with a big stack of books to read together. I enjoyed the experience as much as they did!” she said. “We read many of the books over and over, an immersive experience that taught me about story structure, word flow and meter. Eventually, that immersion ignited my interest in writing stories for kids — at first just for my own kids, and eventually for a wider audience.”

Diesen attributed the success of “The Pout-Pout Fish” series to luck, timing and Hanna’s artwork.

“Every year, thousands of wonderful children’s books are published, but only a few seem to catch a wave,” she said. “Visuals play a big role because they’re so integral to a children’s book. Dan Hanna’s art — in particular, the cover of the first book — reeled readers in. Kids, parents, librarians, educators and booksellers picked up the book and gave it a chance. That’s the kind of attention every book deserves, but it doesn’t always happen in the crowded field of children’s literature.”