Children's Book Review: "Wally The Walking Fish meets Madison And Cooper" by Gary Lamit

Written by Gary Lamit for his grand daughter, Madison, this charming little book tells the tale of Madison and the dog Cooper. Cooper, like all the creatures can talk and be understood by all. Madison catches Wally, the walking fish (a walking catfish) and releases him. They get to talking and over the next couple days, Madison and Cooper are introduced to all the local creatures at the lake.

Self published through BookSurge, the book features numerous colorful illustrations along with brief definitions and descriptions set in small boxes below the prose text. The text in the copy I was provided does not include many dialogue tags or other identifiers which may make it hard for small children and their caregivers to follow the actual speaker. According to posted comments made by the author when this issue was raised by other reviewers, the problem has subsequently been addressed by insertion of character names and color coding them at the beginning of each line.

The pages are not numbered nor are there any references to the rest of Madison’s family who are presumably at the lake with her. Naturally inquisitive children can be expected to ask why they aren’t around. It is unfortunate that something regarding why the family members are never seen was explained in the book.

Despite those issues, the book does feature an interesting easy reader tale while providing lots of information. The result is a good read that works when guided by an adult.


Wally The Walking Fish Meets Madison and Cooper
Gary Lamit
Booksurge (part of Amazon)
http://wwwbooksurge.com
May 2009
ISBN# 9781439225417
Paperback
28 Pages
$12.99


Material provided by the author in exchange for objective review.


Kevin R. Tipple © 2009