THE LITTLE RED FISH

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Taeeun Yoo

 

This one has beautiful binding, a red cloth hard cover. So this one I immediately judged by its cover. The insides were ok, as in the story was ok. Just ok. A kid takes a fish to the library and the fish prevails in the boy's dreams when he falls asleep. Using the fish as a beacon was nice but the adventure was just not compelling for me. On top of that, when the action started happening, the pictures were supposed to drive the story on their own minus text. To be fussy, I either like a totally wordless text or can cope with one page of no text in a written story but leaving a few pages open throws lazy me.

 

 

The pictures are sweet. Sepia throughout with just the red fish as a splash of colour. It's a tried and true motif used in many films and the occasional picture book. I like Yoo's use of light and space in her illustrations. I bet she could make decent lino prints.