The illustrated children’s book THE TICKLEFISH ADVENTURE by Shooshnick Roquefort Vattelsquat, III initially seems to have many positive conceptual features going for it. For one thing, the title immediately promises to tickle reader funny bones. And the author’s unusual moniker immediately does. Additionally, most kids are regularly captivated by stories of undersea life, and the vibrant, cartoon-like images of life on and in the ocean–attributed to illustrator Floyd Ryan Yamyamin–seem at times ready to enthusiastically burst off the page. However, to fully deliver on such promise and hold reader attention till the very last page, any book–especially one meant for early to intermediate readers–must contain a structurally sound plot with logical story points. This is where Vattelsquat’s offering sadly begins to fall short.
Logistical flaws proliferate. For instance, though a big deal is made regarding Uncle Bill’s ship the Ticklefish causing fish of all sorts to smile and guffaw, why this is so is never made clear. The Ticklefish appears to be an ordinary ocean liner of the kind fish, whales, etc. would see on a regular basis. Then there’s the problem of hinging two plot points on the reality of how fast a sea turtle can swim. Factually speaking, turtles in the ocean generally swim around 6 mph while ocean liners cruise along at approximately 25 – 35 mph. Therefore, it does not make sense that the sea turtle character would in one moment be easily able to keep up with the Ticklefish in order to follow it to a location it is trying to find, while later on in the book finding itself unable to catch the boat once this turtle has located a package the humans were looking for. (Moreover, since sea turtles are known for their ocean navigational skills, it doesn’t seem logical that a turtle would need to ask directions from a boat in the first place.) There’s also the matter of why any seasoned seamen would carelessly leave a porthole open with a precious package sitting right there, waiting for the ocean to claim it.
Beyond way too many such structural flaws, there are numerous formatting and stylistic inconsistencies as well. Initial caps on words mid-sentence for no reason, for example: “Some would giggle and some would Laugh out loud.” Plus whole words and sentences are unnecessarily capitalized (“IT MADE FISH SMILE.”). In fact, capitalization is so overused throughout, it often seems as if words and phrases are being shouted at readers for no apparent reason. This could be a much more effective children’s book although further revision is advised.
THE TICKLEFISH ADVENTURE by Shooshnick Roquefort Vattelsquat, III is alive with themes of friendship and camaraderie between a variety of beings all helping each other out and cooperating towards accomplishing a goal none of them could achieve alone. If not for its numerous plot pitfalls and text formatting errors, it could provide potentially wonderful messages along with entertainment for a young audience.
~C.S. Holmes for IndieReader