The pictures are vibrant and capture the imagination, and the flow of the dialogue and the different tones of voice mean that this book is such an interesting one to read aloud - and funny, too. It's absolutely true to say that years after my youngest was too old for this both she, and I, still remember big chunks of the text - and quote it back to each other at the breakfast table on a not infrequent basis.
I would have given it 5 stars. But that would be unfair to You Can Swim, Jim - which is surely the masterpiece. "Sore eyes, Doreen? That's the chlorine. Goggles are the thing for you" etc. etc. Classic. And now that my children don't want to read it anymore, I buy it for everyone else's.