Rainbow+Fish

Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. -Kayla Moore

Analysis of Literary Elements- Character Development:

The story //Rainbow Fish,// by Marcus Pfister is a story that has a lot of character development. The main character named, Rainbow Fish started out being very conceded with himself because he was the prettiest fish in the entire ocean. When other fish would yell for him to come play, "the Rainbow Fish would just glide past, proud and silent, letting his scales shimmer." Rainbow Fish only cared about his own appearance, and believed that he was loved because of his shimmering scales. When a little blue fish asked Rainbow Fish for one of his pretty scales, the Rainbow Fish relied, “You want me to give you one of special scales? Who do you think you are?” cried the Rainbow Fish. “Get away from me!”. This made every other fish in the ocean dislike Rainbow Fish is because of his selfish ways. Rainbow Fish was sad that all of the other fish did not like him anymore, and thought that he was only liked for his beauty. Rainbow Fish grew into a generous fish by realizing his mean ways and began sharing his pretty scales with all the fish in the ocean. Rainbow Fish changed from selfish to generous, and found that his sharing ways made him happier then being beautiful did. The character development made the book have a moral, showing that it is better to share and be generous then be selfish and unkind. It teaches children that they can be well liked and happy if they share their goods with everyone.

Bibliography: Pfister, M. (1992). //Rainbow fish//. New York, NY: North-South Books. Publication- 1992 Publisher- North-South Books New York, NY Hardcover price- $18.84 (amazon.com) Type of Book- Fiction

Summary: The book //Rainbow Fish// is a picture book by, Marcus Pfister. The book starts out with Rainbow Fish, who is considered the most beautiful fish in the whole ocean due to his shimmering scales. All of the other fish always asked Rainbow Fish to participate in their fun and games, but Rainbow Fish would just swim by and show off his scales. One day, a small blue fish asked Rainbow Fish if he could have one of his beautiful scales. The rainbow fish responded with, “You want me to give you one of special scales? Who do you think you are?” cried the Rainbow Fish. “Get away from me!”. The little blue fish was very sad and went to the other fish in the ocean to tell them what happened. The other fish in the ocean became mad at Rainbow Fish and would ignore him when he swam by them. Rainbow Fish became confused and did not understand why the other fish were ignoring his beauty, so he explained the situation to a starfish. The starfish told Rainbow fish to speak to the wise octopus to get the answer on what to do. The wise octopus told Rainbow Fish, "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.” The Rainbow fish was hesitant and did not want to agree with the wise octopus. But then the little blue fish approached Rainbow Fish again and asked for one little scale again. Rainbow Fish pulled off the smallest glitter scale and gave it to the little blue fish. The little blue fish was so excited that he began swimming around the ocean. The other fish noticed the little blue fish with the scale and surrounded the Rainbow Fish to get one as well. The Rainbow Fish gave all but one of his shiny scales away to all of the fish. The Rainbow Fish found that the more scales he gave, the happier he became. He was no longer the prettiest fish in the ocean, but he looked like all the other fish around him. The Rainbow Fish was once again accepted by the other fish, and he swam off to be with his new fish friends.

Book Review:

I believe that the book //Rainbow Fish// should be taught to children of all ages at the elementary level. The book teaches a fantastic lesson that beauty and arrogance does not always lead to happiness. It also teaches children that sharing good things with the people around you will make everyone happy. The Rainbow Fish had to learn this lesson by losing his fish friends, but the students can learn this by hearing Rainbow Fish's story and learning from his mistakes. The book is also fun to read to children because of the illustrations. The pictures are colorful and have the shimmer effect on the Rainbow Fish's scales. Children will love to see the artwork and use of details on the scales. I would recommend this book to all elementary education teachers.

Author Bio:

Marcus Pfister, author of //Rainbow Fish,// was born in Berne, Switzerland. Pfister began his career as a graphic artist until 1983 when he decided to focus on writing and illustrating children's books. His first written and illustrated book was, //The Sleepy Owl,// which was published in 1986. Pfister does most of his illustrations in watercolors. He also does illustrations with holographic foil stamping. Pfister still lives in Berne, Switzerland with his wife and three children. His best known book to date is, //Rainbow Fish,// which has also been created into a local children's television series. Reference- http://www.bravemonster.com/authors/marcuspfister.htm