You Can’t Invite a Fish to a Dance Party

2 March 2020

You can’t invite a fish to a dance party
by Jessica Williams
Illustrated by Jimena de la Vega
Published by All Write Here Publishing
Review by Michelle Shaw
$11.99 (softcover) ISBN 9781999539726

Dance parties are an important way to celebrate life’s big achievements. Like a hole-in-one at mini golf or swinging all the way across the monkey bars. Saskatchewan author Jessica Williams shares her enthusiasm for celebration with a quirky story with an important message: celebrate who you are even when those around you think they know better.

Rabbit, Dog, Parrot, Cat and the other pets are having a dance party, but they decide that Fish can’t go because fish don’t have feet for dancing, and they can’t sing karaoke. So clearly Fish wouldn’t have any fun. Fish has other ideas but each time he tries to show what he can do his friends think something is wrong and become even more determined to protect him. They don’t want him to get hurt! Finally, Fish starts to think that maybe they are right. Maybe they do know what he can do better than he does.

You’ll have to read the book to find out how the story ends. But rest assured, it’s a magical colourful rainbow of an ending.

The illustrations in the book are bright and full of life and I especially loved the way the text fit in so beautifully with the design of each page. Some words are capitalized, some sentences are placed at an angle or follow the slope of a picture. But it works. On some pages, the text almost seems to enhance the movement of the illustrations.

The book is available in softcover, hard cover and e-format.

Jessica Williams’ other books include My koala doesn’t take baths, The Mealtime Monster, Scaredy Cali and Mama’s Cloud (also available in French as Le nuage de Maman.) See more of her work at jessicawilliamsonpaper.com. Jessica is available for school, library and community visits.

Jimena de la Vega is an Art Director and Illustrator in Mexico City. She loves to reach people through colour and beauty and has focused her art into children’s illustrations by telling stories that make readers smile. See more of her work at jimyimy.my portfolio.com

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR ONLINE FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM

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