Julie Murphy (text) and Rachel Tribout (illustrator), Cheer Up, Blobfish, Affirm Press, April 2024, 26 pp., RRP $19.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922863966
At the Festival of Fish, all the fish celebrate with songs and games – except for Blobfish who does not want to join in or crack a smile, even when the others try to cheer him up with jokes and tricks. The fish give up but later when Blobfish returns to his natural habitat deep in the ocean he is happy and is welcomed warmly by his parents. Written by a zoologist and based on the characteristics of the real Blobfish, the story aims to show that every individual is different and can be misunderstood when they don’t behave like the everyone else.
Written in rhyming verse, the book is illustrated with myriad colourful fish. The endpapers in particular are beautifully designed, and the cover features an optical-illusion image of Blobfish, his sad face becoming a smile with a movement of the book.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Douglas
