Inspirational: The Rainbow Fish

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Evaluation of the book:

The Rainbow Fish is the story of a beautiful, sparkly fish who learns the importance of sharing in order to make friends and be happy. The message is simple: sharing is caring. The message is so simple, in fact, that the story could be told purely by the illustrations. In the beginning, there’s a fish with many shiny scales. Then all the fish swim away from him. Then he talks to an octopus. Then he gives a shiny scale to a little fish. Finally, all the fish in the sea each have one shiny scale. The end. This book is purely didactic.

The Rainbow Fish has an instant appeal for children because of the sparkly fish scales present on each page. The reader’s eyes are drawn to the Rainbow Fish and his beautiful, sparkly scales. The illustrations themselves are beautiful watercolors (appropriate for the underwater story!), but the shimmery scales let the child reader understand how desirable the Rainbow Fish and his shiny scales really are. The reader understands well the other fishes’ jealousy.

In contrast to the illustrations, the text itself is rather ugly. The font is basic and the bold text blocks do not fit in with the softer illustrations. Unfortunately, the ugliness of the text makes the book as a whole feel less sophisticated. Not only is the visual appeal of the text unpleasant, the writing is awkward and doesn’t flow very well.

Response:

My response to this book is very mixed. On the one hand, the message of “sharing is caring” is a good one. The Rainbow Fish learns (and teaches) an important lesson when, “His most prized possessions had been given away, yet he was very happy.” The world is filled with entitled people, especially the younger generations. This book is important because it addresses this issue and teaches children the dangers of entitlement. On the other hand, however, there are potentially dangerous traces of socialism - give everything away; be exactly like everyone else; don’t be unique - that I do not in any way agree with. In addition, the story itself seems a bit of a stretch. The wise octopus seems out of place; the annoying little blue fish comes back right at the perfect time; the other fishes immediately like the Rainbow Fish because he gives them his scales, even after he was nasty to them. These all seem a little too out of sync with reality for my adult brain. The translated language of the text is also a bit awkward, it doesn’t flow naturally. For example, the text is mostly written in third person until after the octopus incident when it too-suddenly shifts to first person: “Give away my scales? My beautiful shining scales? Never.”

Conclusion:

I loved this book as a child and definitely only remember the “sharing is caring” message and the beautiful illustrations. This book is a good tool for teachers and librarians to teach the importance of sharing and being generous with others. Children might notice the awkwardness of the language, but, as is true with me, the message and illustrations will stick with them even when the words have been forgotten.

APA Style Reference:

Pfister, M. (1992). The rainbow fish (J. A. James, Trans.) New York, NY: North-South Books.