The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish
by Neil Gaiman
This is my first title by Neil Gaiman; and because I have read so many good reviews of his books, I was surprised that I really did not like this one. The idea based on a real incident with his own son is an interesting one. But I thought that the idea was stretched a little too far - a few too many swaps. In addition, the illustrations in places caused the text to be almost indecipherable.
Of course, as I mentioned in my previous post of A Seed Is Sleepy/An Egg Is Quiet, I am looking at these books from the point of view of an elementary librarian and from my interactions with one elementary school. The students that I see would find the illustrations very strange and would think that the book takes ultimately too long to reach its point that the dad was oblivious to the events surrounding him.
I did enjoy the brother/sister interaction. They acted like typical brothers/sisters - always trying to get each other in trouble. But I really liked Gaiman’s choice to have the mother think that the sister was talking with her mouth full, and this is one time that illustrator Dave McKean really succeeded!
In my book . . . This title works best with adults - an adult picture book if you will.
