Rainbow Fish Makes a Comeback at Our House
December 31, 2007 by Kelly Phillips Erb
Filed under Parenting
My kids’ tastes ebb and flow more quickly than the tides. Katie, in particular, will practically be so attached to a book for a few days that my husband and I worry that it will have to be surgically removed from her hands. She will even sleep with her favorites under her pillow, just in case.
About a year ago, she was fixated on Swiss author’s Marcus Pfister’s Rainbow Fish (oder Regenbogenfisch auf deutsch). The book was loved a little too much to death and was subsequently replaced with a German version that my husband picked up on a trip to Germany. As I’ve mentioned before, he is fluent in German and we think that his reading to the kids in German is a good way to expose the children to the language with none of the pressure of formal lessons.
The German version of Rainbow Fish lasted for a bit and was eventually set aside in favor of other, newer books. You know, the whims of children.
Until Christmas. For Christmas, we tried to tailor all of the girls’ presents towards art. They both love art and I thought it would be great for them to have their own craft space. Friends of ours gave them sparkly silver circles in various colors. Katie looked at them and immediately decided that she had to color and glue together a rainbow fish, sparking renewed interest in the book. No wonder, as it is, quite simply, a stunning picture book.
In the book, the scales on the rainbow fish (his pride and joy) are shimmery thanks to foil inserts over watercolor prints. The illustrations are especially beautiful in dim light, perfect for right before bedtime.
You’d think that this classic, which remained on the NY Times bestseller list for ages, is pretty innocuous: it’s a book with beautiful pictures and a fairly straightforward storyline (more about that in a bit). So imagine my surprise when I surfed over to amazon.com earlier in the year and found the most controversial customer reviews that I’ve ever seen for a children’s book! It’s worth following the link to see such gems as:
Give this book to your children if you would like them to grow up as communist homosexuals.
and
The message made me recoil, it honestly did. It says: if you do not do what I want you to do, I will run whinning to everyone I can and convince them that I have been injured and you will be a social pariah– different is to be fear and emotional bullying is okay.
I will not flog this horse anymore, as Mr. M. Newman, one of the reviewers, said it best any way.
This book is cruel and mean in message and should be kept away from any child that we hope to make into a good, productive citizen of this country.
and
Analysis:
1. I do understand that this is *supposed* to be about sharing, but I think that pulling parts of yourself off and giving them away is not a good idea
2. It seems rather socialist to me–everyone simply must have a shiny scale whether or not they have the capacity to grow their own shiny scales or not.
3. Why should anyone have to pay people to be their friend???
and
I really liked this book when I was little. I really loved (and still do) fish. Plus this book has some beautiful pictures. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. It always made me really sad. Now I know why it made me sad… IT’S COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA! The fish starts out all shiny and pretty, it’s way better than the other fish, but the greedy other fish don’t want to be friends with it. Instead of being happy with what they have, they want to be beautiful like the rainbow fish. They want to have shiny scales too. So the rainbow fish redistributes his scales to all the other fish until each of the fish only has one shiny scale and nobody is very pretty. He gives up his individuality for the good of the collective. This book has evil communist morals! The author equates individualism with possessive selfishness and promotes collectivism as the correct morality. He depicts the fish’s scales as possessions that other fish are entitled to (ie…redistribution of wealth). I can’t believe my parents read this book to me…. It does have pretty pictures though.
Whoa. It’s a kid’s book. But, boy did it hit a nerve with some people. I never *got* what others did, especially the part about pulling bits of yourself off – c’mon, sharing the scales is a metaphor! And, psst, fish don’t really talk either, but that didn’t stop Nemo…
I thought the book had a nice moral about sharing. In the beginning of the story, the rainbow fish has no friends and believes that his beauty alone might enough to make him happy. He eventually finds that he can’t be happy by himself and he seeks counsel from the wise old octopus who advises him that sharing with others might help him discover happiness. The rainbow fish does share his scales with the other fishes and he makes friends.
Despite the negative reviews to the contrary, I don’t think that giving away what makes you special makes you less special. It’s a good lesson to learn that sharing your music, art or talent with others, rather than keeping it to yourself, makes the world a better place. And I certainly didn’t think that the book was some sort of entreaty to give away all of your worldly possessions in order to make friends. Instead, I thought it was a cautionary tale about the dangers of relying upon things to make you happy.
No matter what side you come down on in terms of the moral, it’s a good book to discuss with your children. That’s one of the best things about children’s books, they provide an opportunity to talk to your children, which often gets lost in today’s busy schedules. You can chat with your children about their favorite characters, what they thought about the story, what the story meant to them. And if you think that there is something wrong with the message, that’s the time to talk to your children about that, too.
Of course, you’re the best judge of what makes sense for your children. So, rather than rely on a number of mixed reviews, I encourage you to pick up a copy and judge for yourself what the hub-bub is all about. And stop on by afterwards, I’d love to hear what you think!
Technorati Tags:
best sellers, children’s book, Rainbow Fish, Regenbogenfisch, Marcus Pfister
Ohmygosh! I have NEVER read this book this way! And I’ve actually taught courses in children’s literature, at the collage level!!! I saw this book as an affirmation of what I do: I share my techniques and discoveries freely with other artists. Why? Because I can. Enough said.
I have a masters in children’s literature and have never come across an analysis like that of this book. I agree with Cyndi, it reaffirms sharing and differences. And, it allows children to view art. I think people are reading way too much into it.
But, on the other hand, maybe not…books like Rose Blanche are clear examples of politics playing out in children’s lit.
I love how all the comments are based on the erroneous assumption that free enterprise and capitalism is about KEEPING everything that’s yours.
“Sharing” is socialist, giving is communist – whatever. Nutzos.
I guess Jesus was a socialist communist, The Bible – all propagand. Go figure. I guess all pre-schools and Kindergarten are too because they also encourage sharing.
It’s the best illustrated children’s book I think there is. I’ve even decopaged (sp?) the pages from a torn copy onto the walls of my kids room.
I think it’s hilarious that there is so much noise made over such a small book. I have not in fact read it to my little boy, but will look out for it to see both his and my reaction. Thanks for sharing all this. We have read some of the other stories, so the Rainbow Fish is a familiar character to him.
I just thought it was a beautiful children’s book! Wow, I’d rather go with the sharing is good theory.
Sour people will always find something sour and miserable in everything they see and experience.
Mean people just suck!
Great post! I have to get our copy and reread it. Sadly, our copy is quite old and looks brand new. My 3 children were never interested in it. Their grandmother gave it to them. I read somewhere that grandparents/gift books were a big part of sales.
I LOVE that you are giving the girls art presents. My blog is titled ‘Got Art’. I just launched Got-ToysandGames.com where I love to review art toys. Soon, I will be launching Got-Art.com which will have a large selection for Kid Art books and reviews. Now I have to find our Rainbow Fish copy!
While I agree that it is quite ridiculous that people are getting so excited over a children’s book I must say that the message is being lost in what seems to me a profound socialist undertone. Regardless of how you come down on it, does this stuff really have a place in children’s literature? Should it? I believe, most assuredly, that no it doesn’t and shouldn’t have a place. The lesson as I saw it was that if someone asks you for something, you should give it to them. That’s not sharing. That’s bullying. I think the message of sharing is enveloped in this murky idea of people (fish) not liking you because you wouldn’t give them something. I wouldn’t read this book to my kids.
Ostracism of those who look different and redemption through self mutilation: suitable vehicles to use as a metaphore for sharing?
Perhaps they are OK if no one notices them.
Thank you for this review, it has certainly broadened my opinion of the various message this book has. Personally, I read this book as a child and believed then that it was about sharing what you love- because of course I had never heard of communism or socialism but had ingested a lot of information about sharing. And I would just like to add that the Rainbow Fish was not ostracized by the others until he was rude to the blue fish and refused to give him any scales. It may have an underlying message of conformity, but another thing to pick up on is that the Rainbow Fish still has beautiful scales without the silver ones. Simultaneously, he was happy to give away those scales. If we look at the size of The Rainbow Fish at the beginning of the book, we can see that the Rainbow Fish seems bigger than the other fish- which could be symbolic of his own vanity, whereas at the end he is the same size as the other fish. Is this truly such a large indicator of socialism. Personally, I believe it is about seeing others on the same level as yourself no matter what their looks or beliefs are.
come on–this is s obvious! “at the end he is the same size as the other fish”–you see this as a good thing? It’s socialism! The rainbow fish can only be happy when he is exactly the same as everyone else. “From each according to his ability to each according to his need.” The other fish didn’t do anything but complain to get the beautiful scales. This is pure socialist propaganda if I ever saw it.
I agree with several people here. Those who believe that this book has a political motive really need to calm down and rethink how extreme they have become. I believe this book is just for fun and a great read for kids.
I read the book to our child and immediately had a problem with the messages in it.
It was not about “sharing” which would be a perfectly acceptable message, as Linette and a few others above have suspected.
Rainbow Fish was viciously ostracised by his peers, who were green with envy.
He didn’t share, nor was there any mutual exchange. He gave away what he had been blessed with, and received nothing more than their acceptance.
I picked it as horrid communism the first time I read it to my child (who is good at sharing I might add). On a whim, I Googled the book and it’s clear I’m not the only person who recognised it straight away.
Who needs this sort of crap in a children’s book?