This traditional tale tells the story of the farmer, his wife, their six children, and their grandparents, that live in a tiny house with just one room. They quarrel and fight and get in each other's way. It couldn't be worse! On hearing of their difficult situation, a wise old fishmonger suggests the family take their goat inside the house with them. The farmer's wife is puzzled by this strange advice but the fishmonger is such a wise man she follows his suggestion. Over the course of the following days he advises them to bring all the farmyard animals inside! Finally, the desperate woman returns to the fishmonger and tells him that things couldn't be worse! He smiles broadly and tells her to take all of the animals out of the house, then things will definitely get better. And of course they do. He was, after all, such a wise man!

 

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 2003 by Annick Press Ltd .

VLASTA VAN KAMPEN is an illustrator of many books for children including Orcastranimals (Scholastic, 1989).