View source for Sardines of Love by Zurine Aguirre

{{infobox2
|title=Sardines of Love
|author=Zurine Aguirre
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9781846437267
|pages=36
|publisher=Child's Play (International) Ltd 
|date=January 2015
|aznuk=1846437261
|aznus=1846437261
|cover=1846437261
|website=http://www.zuaguirre.es/
|video=
|summary=Rather odd, but charming too, this is a very fishy love story.
}}
This is a love story about Lolo and Lola, and grandfather and grandmother whose lives revolve around sardines (stay with me!)  Lolo goes out fishing for sardines, and loves to eat sardines, whilst Lola his wife runs a shop selling sardines.  Lola doesn't like to eat sardines, but she happily cooks them for her husband, albeit with a peg on her nose because of the smell!  But one day, the unthinkable happens, and Lola finds that she has run out of sardines for Lolo.  What will she do?

Reading this book reminded me somewhat of watching those bizarre French films, that are rather lovely but so surreal that they leave you wondering what on earth they were actually about!  You see, when Lola discovers she has no sardines, she goes out fishing herself to get some but, whilst fishing, she gets pulled into the water and eaten by an enormous octopus!  Don't worry, this isn't a disaster story however, because inside the octopus there's a rather nice set up, and Lola finds she can cook and live quite comfortably in there, and her only problems are the the only things to eat are sardines and, of course, she misses Lolo!

Lolo, for his part, is distraught when he comes home and finds Lola has disappeared.  He ends up crying so much that he floats away on his tears, right into the Octopuses mouth, and of course there in the stomach he finds his beloved Lola.  She, since setting up house in the octopus, has discovered that actually she loves sardines, and so they live there together very happily!

Although it's rather odd, it is also a sweet story.  Only the most pedantic of toddlers will query the house within the octopus's stomach, so I'd advise you to throw caution to the wind and just go along with the whole idea (even if you are personally wondering where the gas for the oven is coming from...)  The illustrations are lively and colourful.  Lolo and Lola are both charming characters.  I love the picture of her cooking fish with a peg on her nose - there have been occasions when I'd have liked to have done that myself!  I also like the pictures of Lola trying her first sardine, and a later picture of her 'gone wild' in the Octopus's stomach where she is wearing a sort of crown made from fish bones whilst cooking up a whole range of sardine food items!

It is silly, but it's also a charming love story.  I found it to be very readable, and Lolo and Lola are endearing characters.  Good for a wildly imaginative bedtime, and hopefully no nightmares about being eaten by an octopus!

For more fishing fun try [[The Fishing Trip by Beatrice Rodriguez]] or [[Bear and Hare Go Fishing by Emily Gravett]]

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