The Salmon Who Dared To Leap Higher by Ahn Do-hyun

The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher
By Ahn Do-hyun
Translated by Deborah Smith
Published by Pan Macmillan (9 April 2015)
ISBN: 978-1-4472-6999-1

Publisher's description
A life-affirming, inspirational modern fable about, love, life and daring to be different.

The life of a salmon is a predictable one: swimming upstream to the place of its birth to spawn, and then to die.

This is the story of a salmon whose silvery scales mark him out as different - who dares to leap beyond his fate. It's a story about growing up, and about aching and ardent love. For swimming upstream means pursuing something the salmon cannot see: a dream.

The Salmon Who Dared To Leap Higher is a wise, tender and inspiring modern fable about finding freedom and a harmony with nature we have either forgotten or lost in the binding realities of life.

My verdict
The Salmon Who Dared To Leap Higher was a relaxing, comfortable read - a great way to unwind. It reminded me of a bedtime story, one to be shared from generation to generation. The type of book that parents (or grandparents) would read to their children (or grandchildren).

This easy-to-read and well-translated book is beautifully illustrated, both inside and on the cover. It is a short book and reads like a modern fable as it follows the story of Silver Salmon, who makes his journey to his spawning ground and final destiny. Silver Salmon is different from the other salmon, not only because of his silvery scales but also because of his inquiring mind.

The Salmon Who Dared To Leap Higher has underlying meanings about love, life, determination and destiny - that sometimes the easy way isn't the right way and it isn't the salmon's way either.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.