Be careful what you wish for! (The fish who could wish - John Bush)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	The fish who could wish - John Bush
Date:	23/01/07 (185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good story and illustrations

Disadvantages: none!

'The Fish Who Could Wish', written by John Bush and Korky Paul, is a fun little picture book aimed at small children but with a bit of a moral at the end too!

The entire story is written in rhyme and takes place at the bottom of the sea where we meet a very unusual but lucky fish! This fish is different because every time he makes a wish it actually comes true! This fish wishes for all sorts of unusual things - for example a car and a castle, a horse and a spanish guitar. Quite an unusual set of wishes you may think, but they all miraculously appear. One time he wishes he could ski and all of a sudden the ocean bed is transformed as it snows for a week! Another time he wishes he could fly and then is transported to flying all around the earth - twice in one night! So as you can see, all this fish's wishes, however wierd and wonderful, all come true.

One day though, the fish, who is rather silly wishes that he could be just like all the other fish in the ocean. Of course this wish comes true as well, but of course all the other fish can't make wishes that come true! So, from that day onwards neither can our special fish either! So, I would say that the moral of this tale is to be careful what you wish for!

As I said earlier, this story is written entirely in rhyme which definitely adds to its appeal. My three year old daughter loves rhyme as she is very good now at recognising it and can complete the rhymes which she loves to do with this book. The rhyme also makes you read it with a certain rhythm, also adding to the enjoyment

The story is also a clever one and it's very entertaining to see what the fish will wish for next. You can also make up your own wishes for the fish and say what happens when they come true. My daughter also loves drawing and likes to draw pictures to the wishes too!

This brings me on to the illustrations which are fantastic! Korky Paul is the illustrator and provides so much detail in every picture, and with a lot of humour too! Every time we look at the book there seems to be something new to look at in the pictures! He also introduces the idea of thought bubbles in his pictures with every time the fish wishes for something new there is a stream of bubbles blowing upwards from his head!

So overall I feel this is a very good book for parents to share with young children. We love the story and the illustrations and enjoy thinking up our own wishes too! Our copy is a good quality paperback published by Oxford University Press with a RRP of £4.99. However, I bought this as part of a set from The Book People which worked out at considerably less!

Summary: A great book to share with your little ones!