Age 3-7

Evoking in loving detail an Italian village on the Mediterranean sometime early last century, this picturebook tells the story of a shepherd boy whose flute-playing is inspired by the sounds he hears: larksong, the whirring of dragonfly wings, the clopping of lamb’s hooves. He comes to the attention of King Ocean, whose own flute is unrivalled for conjuring the watery noises of the deep, and who summons him to an underwater contest.

The pictures owe something to Italian Renaissance painting, with solid Giotto-esque peasant figures and distant perspectives on the Italian landscape. The carvings around a church door, the colours of a goldfinch, rays, eels, puffer fish and lobsters are all rendered with scrupulous accuracy, while blues and terracottas suggest the southern light. Only the fierce-looking, grey-skinned King Ocean strikes a chill, sitting on a driftwood throne, with webbed feet, pointed ears and wearing a drowned sailor’s ragged uniform. Witty details (mermaids have seals and turtles on leads for pets, and their scale polish is called Scaloglit) add a note of surreality to this skilful, minutely observed, decorative masterpiece.

KING OCEAN’S FLUTE by Lucy Coats, illustrated by Peter Malone

(Orion £10.99)

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