Some books hit the spot immediately, with both parent and child. This is one of those.
Hooray for Fish (or ‘Fish Book Hooray’ as B calls it) is instantly recognisable as the work of Lucy Cousins. Now I have to confess that I just didn’t get Lucy Cousins in the days before I had kids myself. I saw Maisy books at a friend’s house and thought that they were just crude and simplistic. Since then I’ve seen the error of my ways. Lucy Cousins’ work isn’t simplistic, it’s deceptively simple. There’s a joy and a spontaneity and a boldness to the images; there’s a neatness and a flow to the writing.
And all of this is demonstrated perfectly in Hooray for Fish. The stage is instantly set, the text swoshes along like a wave, the illustrations are bright, vivid, varied and attractive, all on lovely blue-green pages. It’s fun for everyone from small babies, just learning to focus; to toddlers who love the rhythm and concepts, to adults enjoying reading the text aloud and pointing out the details.
I knew we needed to own a copy on first reading. It’s a book to treasure.
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