Saturday 11 July 2020

#Booky100Keepers Day 69: "Fox and Goldfish" by Nils Pieters and Frith Williams (Book Island)

Good morning my lovelies! How would you like to be completely and utterly emotionally destroyed by a children's picture book today? No? Are you sure?

You see "Fox and Goldfish" by Nils Pieters and Frith Williams is the perfect excuse to do your best ugly crying, in a story that's beautiful in every respect. Beautiful message, beautiful execution of that message, and stunningly beautiful to look at.

Fox's best friend is goldfish, but poor Goldie isn't feeling too well. In fact it's obvious to Fox that the poor flippery thing is on its last legs...er...sorry fins.

So it's time to do the bucket list, as Fox and Goldfish embark on one last final massive journey to do all the things and see all the things that they've always wanted to.

Children's books that deal sensitively with the subject of loss and grief are rarely done well, but when they are, they speak volumes about our ability to cope with death, our ability to take something joyful and positive away from it, particularly when it's woven into a story as touching as this one.

I mean look at it. Just look at it.


Deep breath, more please...!


Awww!


Oh gawd!

The book imparts its tale with a minimalist word count yet you'll still be in floods of tears by the end, unless you have some sort of a granite lump in place of your heart. Book Island's books are a genuine pleasure to behold, and this is easily one of the most impressive of their gorgeous catalogue of blissfully brilliant children's books. Be warned though, it will ruin your makeup.

Original Review Link: 

ReadItDaddy's Second Book of the Week - Week Ending 29th July 2016 - "Fox and Goldfish" by Nils Pieters (Book Island)