Review: Fish Don't Hop

Realisation can be a slap in the face when you're convinced beyond all reason that a thing is so. Even more so for the very young who cling to conviction like a shipwrecked sailor to flotsam. When enterprising naturalist, Maeve lands her first fish, she is determined to give it the best life possible. It's just that life doesn't always go to plan. Fish Don't Hop by author illustrator, Jojo Leslie, is the divine proof that change is inescapable or rather can result in escape. Let me explain.

After a rousing session at the local pond, Maeve nets what she believes is a tiny fish. Her mother gently points out that while it looks and behaves very much like a fish, it is indeed not a fish. Maeve is resolute. Mumma is wrong and this fish needs a home, which she dutifully sets out to establish. 

Maeve's fish has everything it could want not least of which is Maeve's vigilant attention. It's through this constant observation that Maeve notices her fish's changing oddities: little legs, a shortening tale, bigger arms?! Then, one day some weeks later, her fish makes a sudden and inexplicable disappearance. Maeve is distraught until Mumma's tender intervention delivers the realisation that her fish has hopped to freedom and that, well ... fish don't hop.

Fish Don't Hop is fetching in a myriad of ways. The language is pulsing with alluring alliteration, roll-off-the-tongue play on words and an addictive musicality that is pure joy to read aloud. 

Swishing, swashing and spiralling around, she scooped it up ...

The juxtaposition of Mumma's calming ways and Maeve's frantic insistence is a page out of any family book and provides a soothing balance of light and shade. Then the illustrations, oh! Full of ambient glow and warmth yet also zinging with delicious detail; from Maeve's mismatched socks to the colourful chaos of her bedroom. 

It's the illustrations that not only provide texture and substance but present to the audience the dramatic irony of Maeve's misconception; the tadpole in her fishbowl as it were. This story oozes charm and humour whilst gingerly highlighting change, hope and expectations. These don't always align, a realisation worth noting but in this case, they meld together in a way children as young as three will appreciate and quite possibly gain a chuckle or two from. 

And what of Maeve's little frog fish? Well, thanks to the last spread showing the life cycle of an amphibian, we can only hope he makes it back to his original pond to begin life's cycle all over again.

Fish Don't Hop is a beautiful ode to metamorphosis and misinterpretation that makes for great snuggle-time reading. 

Title: Fish Don't Hop
Author / Illustrator: Jojo Leslie
Publisher: Woodslane Press, $
Publication Date: 1 July 2026
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781923350274
For ages: 4 - 8
Type: Picture Book

Buy the Book: Woodslane Press

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