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Title: The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, J. Alison James ISBN: 1-55858-009-3 Publisher: North South Books Pub. Date: October, 1992 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.96 (114 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Celebration of Appeasement and Mediocrity
Comment: We own this book only because my wife ordered it from a book club. Had we looked at the book, we never would have bought it. My two-year old has not seen it, nor will he. He has enough good books. And this book is bad. The book is so bad, destructive, immoral, and wrong that I have trouble figuring out where to start. Well, let's start with the "moral(s)" of the book, which can be summed up as follows: (1) being special is evil, and worthy of hatred; (2) if you do not give your possessions away to others on their demand and pursuant to their coercion, you will be rightfully hated; (3) you will be happy only if you are mediocre; (4) you need to bribe people to be your friends. And the message here is not about sharing. Notice, the Rainbow Fish does not "share" his scales (sharing would imply that his friends were going to give the scales back when they are done.) No, the Rainbow Fish is compelled (by emotional coercion) to give away that which makes him special. What part of this story is supposed to be edifying? It is garbage.
Rating: 1
Summary: Pretty pictures, emotionally damaging story
Comment: I was relieved to see so many other bad reviews of this book, because I had thought I was crazy. I knew this was a very popular book (posters, puppets, etc.) so I bought it and was shocked at how bad the story was. When the Rainbow Fish chooses not to give his beautiful shining scales to another fish, all of the fish swim away and leave him "all alone". Thanks to a wise octopus, he discovers the only way to win friends and be the "happiest fish in the sea" is to give away his scales. I'm a teacher and a parent, and this is just a really bad lesson to be giving to a child, especially one under three years old who has little experience interacting with other people and forms ideas and expectations about the world based on books, tv, familial messages, etc. It is just beyond bad if your child is already sensitive and non-aggressive.
I changed the words to this book, but my daughter is almost three now and can pick out certain words (that she knows I'm not reading!) and asked me to read the "real" story. I explained that I wasn't crazy about the story, and promptly disposed of the book. I did not even consider donating it to the library or selling it to a used bookstore, because I don't want to be part of perpetuating this story! It is that bad.
Please do your children and society a favor and skip this book. Unless "give other kids all of your special, favorite things or else they'll all hate you and you'll be lonely and sad forever" is a moral lesson you want to teach your children, you'd be better off choosing one of the gazillion excellent children's books out there. Try anything by Richard Scarry, Byron Barton, Sandra Boynton, Eric Hill, Eric Carle, Dr. Seuss, etc. etc. etc................
Rating: 1
Summary: Bad Message
Comment: This book has very beautiful drawings and the fish scales shimmer creating a nice effect. But that is where the positives end. The message of this book would be nice if it was truly about sharing but it is not. The fish has to give up his scales to have friends- If he does not he will not have friends.
It makes me think of a bully (little fish) saying to a child (rainbow fish)- 'I will not be your friend unless you give me your lunch money'. And this book takes the side of the bully.
Here is a quote:
"Give a glittering scale to each of the other fish. You will no longer be the most beautiful fish in the sea but you will discover how to be happy" (---so one cannot be happy unless they sacrifice what is important to them?!?).
Also the little fish says to rainbow fish that he just 'wants one little scale' implying that that is the only way to win his friendship.
This story would be great if Rainbow fish decided to share his scales WITHOUT the pressure that it is the ONLY way to win friendships. What would have made a good book would be for rainbow fish to be kind & helpful to win over friendships and not get friends simply by 'buying' them over with his scales.
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Title: Rainbow Fish to the Rescue by Marcus Pfister, J. Alison James ISBN: 1558584862 Publisher: North South Books Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Board Book by Eric Carle ISBN: 0399226907 Publisher: Philomel Books Pub. Date: March, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
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Title: Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale by Marcus Pfister, J. Alison James ISBN: 0735810095 Publisher: North South Books Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Rainbow Fish A, B, C by Marcus Pfister ISBN: 0735817146 Publisher: North South Books Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle ISBN: 0805047905 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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