Little Fish

“Little Fish is a visually compelling book with a story and illustrations that celebrate the wonders of life under the sea.”

The form is as important as the story in Little Fish, an innovative book written and illustrated by Emily Rand for 6- to 8-year old audiences. Despite the publisher’s age recommendation, tots and toddlers also will be enthralled by the story and three-dimensional scene. However, this younger set may need supervision while exploring the book to protect the elaborate creative paper sculptures from eager, sometimes careless, hands.

Open the book so the cover and back touch and you have a star-shaped carousel of underwater scenes that literally unfold before your eyes.

Use the ribbon glued into the two covers to tie the book’s back and front together. You have a sculptural table decoration; a child can walk around the book, peering into each scene, looking for the hero fish in his complex underwater home.

The story itself is simple, told in a lilting rhythm that mimics the swells and wells of waves. In ten brief pages, Little Fish experiences an epic journey through a coral reef.

The story begins, “Two tiny goby fish swim beneath the waves.” Little Fish’s friend is swept away when a giant shoal swims past. Little Fish is left behind, “alone and lost in a dark and leafy place.”

Thus begins the journey with friendly as well as frightening encounters along the way. Will Little Fish make it home, and will he ever see his friend again?

Emily Rand’s four-Pantone-color illustrations have a playful, patterned style that depicts brightly colored corals and seaweed forests populated with sea creatures. Little Fish is a visually compelling book with a story and illustrations that celebrate the wonders of life under the sea.