The Ballad of Billy McFee: A Sea Shanty to Read or Sing by Ruby Mosher is a children’s picture book with a unique twist. The story is about a fish who wants to free a ship that’s stuck at the bottom of the sea. He gets some help from various friends, but others, a pair of naysaying crabs, tell him his work is hopeless. The book’s uniqueness lies in the fact that the words can either be conventionally read or sung (or both.) The book contains rhyming, puns, and Easter eggs (an unexpected feature included as a bonus). It has full-page illustrations and is intended for young children, either those who can’t read yet or who are just learning to read. The author says the book is about celebrating differences and diversity.

The Ballad of Billy McFee: A Sea Shanty to Read or Sing is creative, charming, and imaginative. My children would have enjoyed this book when they were young. Author Ruby Mosher clearly knows what children like and has filled her book with those items. Kids will enjoy the bright, full-page illustrations as well as the rhyming. They’ll also learn about committing to and completing a task, along with ignoring naysayers. But it’s not only children who will enjoy this book. Parents will like it, too, and they will appreciate being able to teach their children through the puns and the Easter eggs. The book will also teach children creativity and the enjoyment of having choices. Each time they read the book (and no doubt children will read it many times) they can decide whether to read or sing the words. I recommend this book to both children and their parents.

Billy has met his match – he’s found a ship embedded in the sand. But Billy is determined to free it from the sand and sail it. It’s the ship of his dreams. Only Billy can’t move the ship on his own. When other sea creatures swim past, he calls out for their help, and soon he has a crew of diverse sea friends, including a shark, a whale, and a very smart crab. Will Billy and his new friends free the ship? Perhaps if we all sing along with his ballad, his ship will be freed.

Ruby Mosher’s picture book story, The Ballad of Billy McFee: A sea shanty to read or sing, is a fun story, part song (ballad), part story. With colorful illustrations and balloon comments by the various sea creature characters, this story is full of collaboration and interesting details about the sea creature characters, as well as the sea itself. The story is inspirational and educational and the young reader can read the story, or sing along with the lyrics. There’s nothing like a group singing together to get a good job done and it doesn’t hurt to repeat this stanza to help encourage more singing voices: “Come along and sing this song,/ We sing as we work the whole day long.” The story includes puns and funny lines, interactive activities like searching for things like Easter eggs, and subplots within the plot. It’s all very clever and the plot allows each individual reader to follow their own journey as they read (or sing) the ballad.