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A review by starsal
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
1.0
I am all for teaching children to share and make friends, and I'm also all in favor of beautiful books about animals.
So I sat down to read this book to my infant son. And was horrified.
Here is the plot:
Rainbow Fish is lovely. He has lots of sparkly silver scales. None of the other fish have these silver scales. Rainbow Fish does not play with the other fish. But one day, a little blue fish asks Rainbow Fish for one of his shiny scales. Rainbow Fish, understandably thrown, says "NO, those are part of my body, and you can't have one." The little blue fish is sad. He tells all the other fish that Rainbow Fish won't GIVE HIM HIS SCALES and all the other fish start shunning Rainbow Fish (it is unclear why they weren't disgruntled that Rainbow Fish never talked to them in the first place but are now all in a snit). I think "This is awful! Rainbow Fish didn't feel comfortable with Little Blue Fish's request and now he's suffering social castigation for it." Rainbow Fish asks an octopus how to be happy, and the octopus wisely tells him she can't give him the secret to happiness. The little blue fish comes back. And here I think "Oh, good! He's going to apologize for such an intrusive request, All Will Be Well, and we will all have learned an important lesson about boundaries." But NO! Little Blue Fish REPEATS his request and goes so far as to DIMINISH the importance of it: He wants "Just one little scale." Rainbow Fish, lonely, hurt, and confused, gives in, RIPS A SCALE OFF HIS BODY, and gives it to the little fish. The little fish likes him now! Now that Rainbow Fish has done something he was uncomfortable with, everyone thinks he's great! Clearly, this was a fantastic idea, so he starts ripping scales off with abandon, giving one to ALL the fish! And now EVERYONE likes him! The way to be popular was to completely disregard his own comfort level, boundaries, and sense of ownership and security in his own body! THAT'S the secret to happiness! He does keep one small silver scale for himself, but otherwise he leads a much happier life now that he has given in to peer pressure.
That's not, by any stretch of the imagination, a good lesson for kids. I can see what the author was going for (sharing is good, generosity feels wonderful) but he chose a poor vehicle for that moral, and the result is a book I'm planning to drastically rewrite before sharing with my son again.
The pictures, and the scales, are lovely, so there is that.
So I sat down to read this book to my infant son. And was horrified.
Here is the plot:
Rainbow Fish is lovely. He has lots of sparkly silver scales. None of the other fish have these silver scales. Rainbow Fish does not play with the other fish. But one day, a little blue fish asks Rainbow Fish for one of his shiny scales. Rainbow Fish, understandably thrown, says "NO, those are part of my body, and you can't have one." The little blue fish is sad. He tells all the other fish that Rainbow Fish won't GIVE HIM HIS SCALES and all the other fish start shunning Rainbow Fish (it is unclear why they weren't disgruntled that Rainbow Fish never talked to them in the first place but are now all in a snit). I think "This is awful! Rainbow Fish didn't feel comfortable with Little Blue Fish's request and now he's suffering social castigation for it." Rainbow Fish asks an octopus how to be happy, and the octopus wisely tells him she can't give him the secret to happiness. The little blue fish comes back. And here I think "Oh, good! He's going to apologize for such an intrusive request, All Will Be Well, and we will all have learned an important lesson about boundaries." But NO! Little Blue Fish REPEATS his request and goes so far as to DIMINISH the importance of it: He wants "Just one little scale." Rainbow Fish, lonely, hurt, and confused, gives in, RIPS A SCALE OFF HIS BODY, and gives it to the little fish. The little fish likes him now! Now that Rainbow Fish has done something he was uncomfortable with, everyone thinks he's great! Clearly, this was a fantastic idea, so he starts ripping scales off with abandon, giving one to ALL the fish! And now EVERYONE likes him! The way to be popular was to completely disregard his own comfort level, boundaries, and sense of ownership and security in his own body! THAT'S the secret to happiness! He does keep one small silver scale for himself, but otherwise he leads a much happier life now that he has given in to peer pressure.
That's not, by any stretch of the imagination, a good lesson for kids. I can see what the author was going for (sharing is good, generosity feels wonderful) but he chose a poor vehicle for that moral, and the result is a book I'm planning to drastically rewrite before sharing with my son again.
The pictures, and the scales, are lovely, so there is that.