WHERE IS LITTLE FISH?
From the Little Fish series
by Lucy Cousins ; illustrated by Lucy Cousins
Little Fish plays hide-and-seek.
A board book should be brief to match a toddler’s attention span, have humor that a young child can appreciate, and provide reasons for caregiver and child to linger over each page. Cousins, best known for the popular Maisy stories, scores on all counts here. On the first page, the smiling Little Fish speaks directly to readers with an invitation to play the familiar game of hide-and-seek. Six possible hiding places are concealed beneath flaps on the subsequent pages. By the second reading, young children will chime in with a satisfying “No” as each flap reveals a different sea creature. Finally, as in Cousins’ earlier Hooray for Fish (2005), the final flap lifts to reveal Little Fish and Mom Fish sharing kisses. The six page turns and six flaps are just enough to ensure that board-book readers will say “read it again.” The creatures have monikers such as “shelly fish” and “stripy fish,” but even though these names are invented, their hiding places hint at real habitats and actual fish behavior. Each flap includes a small cutout to make it clear where it should be opened. This feature may help the rather thin flaps survive frequent tugs from eager little fingers.
Where is Little Fish? He should be on shelves serving young children everywhere.
(Board book. 1-3)