This book has beautiful undersea watercolor illustrations and the main character, a male rainbow fish, sports sparkling metallic scales. The book is suitable for children from pre-kindergarten to second grade. It has not won any awards. Despite the beautiful pictures, the story falls short of being in the high quality classification mainly because of the mixed messages it is sending. Rainbow Fish is the most beautiful fish in the ocean. He is also vain and superficial. Other fish ask him to play, but he is too caught up in his own beauty to join them. A small blue fish asks him for one of his shimmering scales, and the Rainbow Fish refuses. The blue fish goes to all his friends and tells them that Rainbow Fish would not give him a scale. From that point on, all the other fish will not associate with Rainbow Fish. Eventually, Rainbow Fish becomes very lonely and he gives the blue fish one of his shinny scales. It makes him happy to give. He ends up giving all of his special scales away, except for one. All the other fish like him then and he is happy. The story stresses sharing, which is an important concept. But, younger children might confuse sharing with bribing others to like you by giving them choice belongings. If reading this story to children, it would be important to stress that the real reason the other fish did not like Rainbow Fish was because he was arrogant and vain. You could use this book in the curriculum to discuss sharing or when doing a unit on the sea. A fun project could be developed where students have cut out fish, with scales, available to watercolor after reading the story. Students could experiment with mixing primary colors to create new colors for their fish scales.Read full review
We bought the rainbow Fish as we were drawn to the simply beautiful illustrations and learnt that there was a message inside though it could have been delivered in a better way! The Rainbow Fish is the most beautiful Fish in the sea - his scale are of many beautiful colors and among them, are shiny silver scales that not only shine out in the sea but also stand out of the pages of the book thanks to foil embellishments! However, the where the Fish is beautiful in looks, he lacks in attitude and behavior. All the other fish call after him and want some of his special scales, but his reaction is rather rude: "You want me to give you one of my special scales? Who do you think you are? Stay away from me"....this is I feel a little harsh. I understand that the author is trying to convey a message but I am not so sure this was the best way to do so for the 4-8 year old age group - the demographic to which this book is intended! The Fish soon learns he may be beautiful...but what use is this with no friends? And there begins a tale of sharing , the book does turn around at this point to becoming a warm happy tale! I think if you were reading the book to the younger end of the intended age group, then parents could adapt the story a little into words that are more age appropriate. But the story of sharing is a good one that every child needs to learn - and the beautiful artwork does make this an enjoyable way on conveying the message!Read full review
Great book about sharing. Beautiful, colorful pages in a hard back cover with a little glitter to had that sparkle to the story. Wonderfully told story. Great for preschoolers and young children. It is one of my favorite books, and I'm 50+ years old.Teaches a great lesson about sharing with others and how it makes you and others you share with feel. Highly recommended.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This is an awesome book. My granddaughters enjoyed this book so much when they were children. The story line teaches children about how good it feels to share with others. Reading this copy brought back pleasant memories. I recommend this book for small children. It is colorful and entertaining.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Bought this book for my 3 year old granddaughter and she loves MiMi reading it to her every night & during the day!!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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