The Very Funny Fish

This pop-up book shows large, brightly coloured sea creatures springing from double spreads as you turn the pages. It’s a shame that some small parts oblige the publishers not to recommend it until children are 36 months as I find children love pop-ups from about 6 months. The paper engineering is splendid: adventurous without being too fragile. Turn the pages showing the Anglefish with its special glowing light and the jaws open and close. The same sort of thing happens on the Clam page.

It’s easy to mock lines that are slaves to the rhyme – ‘zooms through the sea’ and ‘as happy as can be’. But there is some attempt at alliteration on the ‘Whale’ pages with ‘whooshing’ and ‘waving’ and young children often like rhymes that older people might find tedious.

Does this book do more than entertain? I think the images of the creatures are sufficiently true to life to encourage comments and questions. Young children will also get a sense of how the creatures move and they will see that there is enormous variety in the world deep below the ocean’s surface.