Goldfish Ghost

In most stories, the death of a goldfish would mark the end of the tale, but in Goldfish Ghost, it’s the very beginning. As Goldfish Ghost explores a small seaside town, looking for companionship, the reader is left to ponder questions of loneliness, friendship, and our purpose in life and beyond. Those are some pretty heavy thoughts to be evoked by a children’s book, but then again, it is Lemony Snicket, who has proven time and again to be a master of asking readers tough questions in what are ostensibly books for younger readers.

The art is lovely, but truly pops for the reader when day turns to night and the bright shades of daylight give way to a lovely blue-shaded palette for the finale. It makes the lighthouse seem even more magical and fitting.

Goldfish Ghost has a beautiful melancholy about it, and no doubt would serve brilliantly to comfort a child after the loss of their own pet. The idea of death not as an end but a beginning has been done many times before, but perhaps never as simply or as effectively.