Fish Jam (Kylie Howarth, Five Mile Press)

Jonah and the Whale has got nothing on this book! Toot is a fish who likes to make noise and he loves nothing better than making music. But the rest of the creatures in the sea want him to be quiet and nobody wants to join him and play. They ‘shhh’ him and ‘shoo’ him until he is quite demoralised. It is only when something extremely unexpected and amazing happens that Toot is able to join a ready-made band and he ends up being able to jam as much as he likes. The publisher describes this book as a ‘limited text picture book’. It does have very little, simple text, most of it related to making sounds. This allows the reader to join in the fun and the action and to participate by making their own music. Sharing this book with a small child could be a noisy experience. The illustrations are appropriately ‘watery’, with interesting textures. As the mother of two boisterous boys, the author obviously has lots of experience in making fun together. This is her first book. It is suitable to share with pre-readers who will easily recognise the words and the sounds and relate them to the action in the pictures. 

Margaret Hamilton is a former children’s book publisher. She now provides freelance publishing services and runs Pinerolo, the Children’s Book Cottage in Blackheath