The Fish with the Deep Sea Smile by Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrated by: Henry Fisher

Series: N/A

Published: Parragon Books Ltd., 2014

Edition: Paperback

Narrated By: N/A

Length: 32 pages

Genre: Picture book, children’s fiction, poetic fiction

Where Did I Get It? Kindly received from Parragon Books as part of their Book Buddies scheme.

Opening Line(s):

They fished and they fished,

way down in the sea,

down in the sea a mile.

~

My Review: A simple whimsical tale of fishing for a special fish – the fish with the deep sea smile – a group in a boat travel far and wide over the ocean catching all different kinds of wonderful fish as they go.

The illustrations are bold and bright and cheerful but no too busy. The Smalls really loved all the fish that were caught and describing what they looked like as we turned each page – from the fish with terrible teeth to the fish with eyes on stalks! They giggled at the pictures and the simple, lilting, repeating narrative kept their attention throughout.

It was quite a calming story as well as an interesting and fun one – it helped to settle them before bed, particularly Arthur. I didn’t mind reading it twice over either as I enjoyed it too.

I could see this being a great book for younger children too, books about the ocean usually went down well with my two when they were tiny.

My Rating: 4/5*