The Rainbow Fish

As a teacher of two-year-olds, I could not be happier with this book. The Big Book style keeps the children entralled while I "read" the book. Meaning that even though their attention spans can't handle hearing the story word-for-word, they listen as I edit the story in my own way. And by the time the four-year-olds see it, they are listening to every word of this precious story. And at the price it is offered here, even I could afford to add it to my collection.

I loved this book when I was a child, so this was an obvious choice for one of my son's first books. As I read the story to him last night, I could not help but see some major socialist undertones in the story. Were these "You'll be happier and have more friends if everyone is equally sparkly" thoughts always in this text? Such a sad realization for me... :(

Decent story, if you're okay with these ideas. Awesome sparkles.

This book has pretty illustrations. Some of the fish scales are shiny which makes it fun to look at for kids from 4months to 4years (my kids' ages). A story about sharing our good fortune with others because it helps everyone, even ourselves.

I purchased this book as part of a shower gift. My daughter loved this book when she was little with all of the brightly colored, shiny fish. I could not find it in any store so I was happy to get it.

The book was in very good condition. It did have a little writing on the inside cover and a couple of the corners had dings on them, but other then that the book looks like new. The pages are neat and unmarked. In perfect reading condition. All for 1 cent.

This is a beautiful book with the silver scales on the Rainbow Fish and the watercolor pictures. The book also teaches a very valuable lesson from the Bible -- Give and you will receive. The more scales the Rainbow Fish gave away to the other fish, the happier he was. I highly recommend this book!

How dare this book teach my child that outside appearances aren't important and don't make you as special as your compassion and forgiveness. I have to agree with the other readers who believe this is a mylar-coated commie piece of propaganda manufactured to inculcate our children into socialism. The very idea of giving to the less fortunate is antithetical to capitalism and unAmerican. And doing so *despite* the other fishies' bad behavior? Shocking! That rainbow fish should have opened a can of you know what on those whiny little fishies. Forgiveness and generosity simply aren't practical in the world of our children. Further blasphemy: Once the rainbow fish gives his scales away, everyone ***looks the same!*** Commie uniformity I say! How are our children going to understand that they must buy overpriced brand label clothing and jewelry to be special if they read something like this in their formative years? Pshaw to you Pfister. Pshaw.

My 3 year old loves to read about the rainbow fish sharing his colorful scales with his friends. My son is struggling to learn to share, so this book really helps teach the lesson that sharing is nice and you'll have more friends by being nice and sharing (as opposed to be stingy and keeping things all to yourself). Cute story with a good message without overdoing it.

I mean can you really get better than Rainbow Fish. It has been used in classrooms for years and will continue to be used. I was shocked to find that it even engaged 3 year olds and had them talking about how it is nice to share. That's impressive. But The Rainbow Fish is truly a classic and a staple in any Children's Literature collection.

This is an excellent book for young children to adolescents. I purchased the book erraneously, and was daunted at first by the size of it as I had intended to buy a normal-sized copy for home use, but I can certainly use it at the English language school where I work. The artwork is fabulous!

The art is nice, and the sparkly scales on the rainbow fish are pretty. It's a good moral about sharing what you have. However, the rainbow fish is really a jerk at the beginning of the book, and I'm not sure I want my kid to have the message that you have to be less you for others to like you.

One of my favorite childhood books, I had to buy this for my kids, and share the memory with them! I can't wait until my daughter unwrap this for her 4th birthday. She's been asking for books I used to have read to me when I was little, and this was one of the first books that popped into my head. I remember this story like it was yesterday. The colors are beautiful and crisp and I am really excited to share this with my children. It's a wonderful story.

I have no issues with the story of the Rainbow Fish; I've read the full hardcover edition, and it's a beautiful story about not tying up your self esteem/identity to your looks (the Rainbow Fish had no friends because he thought he was more beautiful -- and therefore superior -- to all the other fish), and how sharing makes you feel good.

My issue is with this specific product; it's listed as the Hardcover edition, but what is sent to you is a Board Book. That's bad enough itself (I feel as if I've been a victim of the old "bait and switch" routine). But the story is so abbreviated in the board book, that the original message of the full-length book is gone -- which is what I suspect is bothering many parents here.

I strongly urge anyone who is interested in the book to go to the library or bookstore to look at the full length version of the book, and THEN decide if you like the story. The board book version is just awful.

the store, please fix your product description!

This book has always been of favorite of mine and my kids (16, 14, & 11). The illustrations are beautiful and the story has a great lesson. Our newest copy is being sent to our newest family member in New Zealand. I know he will enjoy it as much as we have.

I loved this book as a child. Reading it again as an adult, I really regretted buying it as a birthday gift. It was way too short, the book basically jumped from the fish being selfish to it being generous.

The illustrations in this book are well done and creative but that is the only good thing to be said about Rainbow Fish. To quote another reviewer - couldn't say it better myself - the "moral(s)" of the book, 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.

A much superior and positive message can be found in the new book Starboortz Fish. This story is about a starfish that sets about to find his special talents and how he can can use his skills make him successful and happy. That is the message that children ought to be hearing.

I have always loved this book and unlike most adults, I take it for what it is . . . a children's book! It's purpose is not to promote mediocrity but to show that happiness can come from treating others with kindness and not being prideful. This kind of story is no different than the fables and stories that our parents used to tell us. Apparently there are some parents these days who just don't want to teach their children any values.

The book I received was obviously used. I was going to give it as a gift for Christmas, but couldn't use it. It was worn and had marks throughout the book. I'll keep it and read it to my grandkids, which is fine, but I was disappointed in the condition of the book.

I remember this story as a child, so I had to buy the book to share with my kiddos. It arrived in great condition. Price was higher than what I expected, but I did not find it any cheaper anywhere else either. The kids love it and so do I. Very pretty colors and pictures and it spreads a good message to kids about sharing.

This book was far from "new" it had bent ends/corners. There were writing impressions on the cover of the book. It definitely appeared used. Had all the pages. But huge disappointments in appearance and condition. Doubt I'd order again.

the story itself is fabulous for sharing and being a good friend. However, there is a typo on one of the pages where rainbow is spelled rainboe..... was going to use this for a lesson plan but cant now.

We were at a story time event where this book was read aloud to a group of children. At the end I wanted to jump in front of the goup and yell "DO NOT LISTEN! Do not give pieces of yourself away to others who do not listen or appreciate you! Share toys and snacks, but do not seek friends who only want the best parts of you to flaunt as their own."

I was pissed. The message in this book is AWEFUL.

What is the lesson here? The fish gang up on rainbow fish because he had a bad reaction to one fish asking him to share a piece of himself. Then no one speaks to rainbow fish until he finally gives everyone a piece of himself. So what kind of friends are they? I hope my children are never affraid to set boundaries and build relationships with people who like them for who they are not what they give.

Whenever I choose a book for a child I buy the "The Rainbow fish" as it tells a inspiring story children can learn from and is beautifully illustrated. Marcus Pfister is a gifted childrens writer and has written other wonderful books.

I think this book has become the victim of some advocacy group's "write in" campaign. Too many people saying the same (highly innacurate) things. This is a simple story that can be twisted or embellished in a number of ways. I don't know about you, but when I read to my children (or a group of children I work with) I discuss the story with them and the meanings in the book. This book is only anti-anyting if you make it so.

When I read it, this book is about learning how to be friendly and how to be kind. No, Rainbow Fish does not have to give away his "specialness" -- is he only special because he has a lot of sparkly scales? Isn't he special (like everyone) for what is inside? It definitely isn't a communist manifesto as some people have implied. I emphasize that Rainbow Fish is happy himself when he helps others around him be happy too. Helping other's be happy does not necessitate subjugating yourself. Wouldn't it be nice in this culture if a few more people with an embarrassment of riches enjoyed helping those around them?

It's just a simple kid's book people.

My daughter's teacher adored this book last year, her first year to teach grade 2. I purchased this as a gift to a wonderful educator who will continue to share it with her classes throughout the years.

These are NOT bathtub stickers that you would use to make the bathtub non-stick, which is what I THOUGHT they were. Rather they are foam toys with a sticker on top. They are too cheap to bother sending back, but I feel the description was misleading.

I don't understand all of the great reviews. Message of the book is this: if you have more (of anything) than your peers, they will be envious and entitled. If you don't indulge their requests for whatever is yours, you will never find happiness and will be a social pariah.

Not sure why this is a message we want to pass along to our children.

I sat down to read this book to my 3 year old granddaughter a little while back. Her mom and dad have many books on the shelf for her and I asked about this one. "We don't know about it", they said, "someone gave it as a gift. It's pretty." It certainly has beautiful illustrations, and I was excited to explore it with her. As I read more and more of the story out loud to her it became apparent to me that Marx and Lenin would be enamored with this book. It was all about how a bunch of bully fish who didn't have the same pretty scales shamed and coerced the rainbow fish to physically sacrifice part of itself for them. There were no positive motivations for doing so. I had hoped partway through the book that it would be a story of the rainbow fish seeing one or more others in some sort of need and feeling compassion toward them, motivated to share its "wealth" out of generosity. Instead I got to witness an indoctrination story that could have been straight out of 1930's Russia, one of the pieces Soviet or Chinese "self-criticism" propaganda, or the obligatory indoctrination classes for 8 year olds under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. In the end I stopped reading the story to her, but created my own tale of love for others and sacrifice from the heart as I turned the pages. It would have been so simple for the authors to do the same, and for that reason I can only assume a bad ulterior motives for trying to place this awful drivel (albeit packaged so beautifully) in the hands and minds of vulnerable and impressionable children. Shame on you Marcus Pfister. How dare you try to lead children into the thought that bullying and gang mentality, but being your own unique self is somehow wrong. Parents beware!

I am an Early Years teacher, and the popularity of this book bamboozles me. It is the children's preparation for entering the world of income equality, in this case an underwater world where no fish is simply content being a sleek black fish or a silvery grey one, but must have exactly the same thing as the one they envy. So this fish learns, not to appreciate all his friends with all their different physiology, but to deform himself by tearing out all his scales but one and giving them to his friends, so that he can enjoy their approval in those last minutes before he dies of ich.

This book was a childhood favorite of mine, but I'm no longer sold on the message. Essentially, the main character (Rainbow Fish) has a unique set of scales of which all the other fish are enamored by. When he refuses to give his scales to another fish, they call him selfish and refuse to hang out with him. My question is this: What does Rainbow Fish owe the others? The other fish don't care about Rainbow Fish, they only care about his scales. After Rainbow Fish visits the wise octopus, he decides to share his scales and finally becomes a part of the group. Clearly, the book is trying to show that sharing and humility are a part of friendship, but it missed its mark completely. This book teaches kids to give in to the jealousy of others and lose your identity.
The drawings are nice though.

My wife picked this up, as it was one of her favorites from when she was young, so that she could share it with our son. Upon initial read picked up on the idea of sharing, but as my day job has me interacting with high school age kids and having to watch out for negative/troublesome behavior, the message is just horrible. Rainbow Fish is not "Sharing", it is physically mutilating itself, in order to make the other fish like him. Another reviewer noted this as communism, and I see that as well.

The story should have focused on the rainbow fish learning to not be a narcissistic jerk, and instead help the others see their own beauty/ uniqueness. Much better message .

As a side note, my wife has banned me from reading the story to the kid, since I point out that the advice and subsequent actions by the rainbow fish are wrong.

This book has pretty illustrations but is the only nice thing I can say about it. Caution spoilers: There is a pretty fish all the other fish call rainbow fish. They admire his beauty but rainbow fish doesn't want to play with them. So rainbow fish is minding his own business when another little fish swims up to him and says please give me one of your scales "you have so many"(!!!). Rainbow fish says no so the little fish goes to the other fish and they all decide they won't play with him because he won't share his scales. That for some reason makes Rainbow fish sad even though before he didn't want to play with them anyway. A clam tells rainbow fish to go see a "wise" octopus who proceeds to tell him that he will never be happy unless he gives all of his scales away. Rainbow fish then gives each fish one pretty scale until all the fish each have one pretty scale and no fish is prettier than any other fish at which point the other fish decide they now can be his friend. So the lesson is that everyone should look alike and if you have something better than someone else you should give it away? It bothers me that he doesn't share because it makes the other fish feel good or because the fish are in need of scales to survive but just so the other fish will like him and no one is different. It also bothers me that the other fish feel entitled to rainbow fish's scales for some reason. I have put this book in my compost bin(the best use for this rubbish in my opinion) and used it to explain to my children that if someone only likes you because they want your things then that is not a friend worth having, just because someone doesn't look like you doesn't mean you should not like them, and that it is "ok" to not want to play with someone if you are polite and respectful of their feelings.

People, take a breath...this story was written for small children, to help understand the enjoyment of "giving".
This parable teaches a Concept.
The Rainbow-fish, (which by the way, is not real, and to just be totally realistic, is probably going to be eaten by a larger fish or evan caught on a shiny-hook by your Mommy, then fried-up on the stove and served for Dinner, tell THAT story to your baby and let me know how THAT works out for ya), anyway, she was perfectly happy having her shiny scales ALL to herself while swimming and "showing off" to all her little friends that were so enthralled by her shiny-ness, so much so that they "wanted" it, and assertively even "asked" her for some of it.
Uhh, lots to be said for also teaching the meaning being inappropriate here.
She had Pride, they had Envy. Neither are healthy attitudes. Both are a few other lessons inside this story, ya think?
The "light-bulb' comes on when Rainbow realized other perspectives, other OPTIONS that were offered by the Octopus.
There is no advice given that would "suggest" Rainbow "take off" her body-parts to be "liked or popular"...gimme a break, Crystal, you actually said this equates to "prostitution"?
SHE realized on her own that one just MIGHT find much more Joy in Life by Giving what one CAN.
Hmmmm could another lesson here be ,"think for yourself, but listen to all sides, walk a mile in another's Moccasins???
But kids will be kids, they will pull hair, poke each other and make fun, none of which are generally taught to them. They act Childish because they are children.
Hopefully behavior they will grow out of...but as we all know, some simply don't.
I assume the meaning of "This little Piggy"..could be dissected and found to be horrifying, if while teaching your baby to count by using the toes on their feet...and instead focus on the fact that Piggy #1 "went to Market"...not to go shopping, but to be "butchered" AT the Market.
It's just a parable, Folks.

Beautiful illustrations which kids love. But I really hate the message here. Sure, it is arguably about sharing; giving makes us happy and life richer. The other fish don't like him because those shiny scales make him look different, more beautiful than them. So he pulls them off, one after another, and gives them to the other fish. Now he's just like the rest of them. Great, he's disfigured himself to look like everybody else. And NOW, they'll play with him. He didn't really NEED all those beautiful scales, right? It's a screwed up lesson about jealousy and conformity. But beautifully illustrated.

Dangerous Themes Children Might Interpret:

1) Others need to give me what I lack. (Seen from the envious fish point of view)
2) I feel guilty for having nice things. (Seen from the Rainbow fish P.O.V)
3) Beauty and/or riches are a curse. (Rainbow fish P.O.V)
4) Be mean to those who are beautiful and/or rich if they don't include you in their lives. (Envious fish P.O.V)
5) I have to be mean to get my way. (Envious fish P.O.V)
6) It's okay to be envious. (Envious fish P.O.V)
7) I don't need to try to accept others who have more than me, are more beautiful. I don't need to seek what my talents and qualities are. Instead, everyone should be like me, we should all be homogeneous. (Envious fish P.O.V)

If you think of it, isn't it contradicting that the other fish were only happy when they were given some of the scales. Shouldn't the true message be to find value in yourself without others owing you.

This book is trying to teach sharing but instead it teaches to give parts of yourself (the parts that make you unique) away. It teaches you that giving yourself away and being like everybody else is the only way to get friends . We have a board book copy and hardback copy because my kids love fishes and love the illustrations in the book - it’s sad that the sharing message is skewed. We no longer read either version.

Who didn't love this book if you grew up in the 90s? This takes me way back to my childhood days when my teacher would show all of us kids the pictures and we thought it was just the best thing ever.

To be honest, this book is so hard to come by in stores. I've live in a place where there are so many different stores around from target and Wal-Mart to babies r us and have never found it in person.

When I found this book on the store i ordered it for my niece who is 2. She loved it and it came in excellent condition with beautiful illustrations. I think this is a great book for any child's collection and I'll be ordering one for my daughter very soon when she is out of the board book stage since this boom deserves to be in paper form. The story is also fabulous And enjoyable for all ages.

Another reviewer wrote that children don't see the world the same as adults and won't end up receiving the "give into peer pressure," "friend ship can be bought," "give away what is yours simply to make others happy," "happiness can be bought," or some such message/s. My younger brother was read this book in school when he was about 7-9 years old and the above are exactly the "moral of the story" message/s he got out of the book, before talking to our parents or other older adults about it.

Perhaps his understanding of the book was in the minority of kids, or he is older than what the other reviewer meant for children. Regardless, part of what I believe makes a children's book good is a clear straight forward message. A book like this which obviously has very different points of view on what the story is trying to get across falls far short of a good children's book.

If you want a book to get across the message to share, not be materialistic, selfish, vain, or whatever, there are many other children books that do just that much more clearly. Heck, if you want a socialism children's book there are probably better ones out there as well. Otherwise the art in the book is it's only good thing going for it.

I really did want to love this book. I recently received a large batch of books for young kids, including this one. It's certainly a nice looking book, and this will keep your kids attention. However, after reading through it with a younger kid (age 7), I'm just not really sure how well the book delivers it's message.

Obviously sharing is important when it comes to younger children making friends. At the same time, though, kids need to know when it's appropriate to share something and when it's not. As well, it's important for kids to know what appropriate reactions and manners to use around other kids when friendships are being formed. In other words, kids should know what it is to be acting "selfish" and when the appropriate time for sharing really is...and I'm not convinced this book conveys this at all.

The book is about a fish born with beautiful shining scales, which all the other fish in the ocean appear to covet. One day, another fish approached our titular "Rainbow Fish" and asks for one of the scales. When the Rainbow Fish denies him, the other fish act out and alienate the Rainbow Fish until a "wise" octopus advises the shining fish to share his scales if he really wants to make friends. The fish ends up giving away all of his scales, save for one, and suddenly everybody likes him.

Any kid who has ever been to elementary school and then grown up can probably tell you that sharing can open the door to friendships, but at the same time "friendships" gained solely through the surrender of valuables really isn't the way to go about this. The other fish in this book demand Rainbow Fish's most valued possessions, and while he does act rude, it's not really appropriate for other kids to make bullying demands of somebody else and then ostracize them when they have to say "no".

What kind of "friends" are these fishes that establish relationships solely on material gain or forced alienation? Sharing candy with a classmate is one thing, but I'm not entirely sold on the idea that sharing something you truly value with others who DEMAND it can form the basis for real friendship. And, while sharing one or two scales might not have been a big deal, the story kind of contradicts itself when more and more fish come along demanding scales. If anything, it teaches the lesson that if you are going to share with one child, then you better prepare to share with everyone in order not to hurt somebody's feelings. And the idea that the whole classroom is going to be your friend after you give them all something is probably not the best way to teach about sharing.

Everything others are saying about this book enforcing "socialism" and all that garbage is complete hogwash. This is a story for kids, and dragging politics into it is absolutely crazy.

However, there is a difference between "sharing" willfully, and being forced or coaxed into doing so...and that's what the book does not convey well.

Have you ever had a lot of the same things and you gave some away but you did not wont to do it? Well you were just like Rainbow Fish. In the beginning, Rainbow Fish did not want to give away his glittery scales and made nobody like him. In the middle, he gave some away. To find out more READ THE BOOK!

My favorite part was when Rainbow Fish went to an octopus because the octopus made him nice. My second favorite part was when he gave some shiny glittery scales away.

I recommend this book to kindergarteners through third grade because I think they would like it. Now, if you like things that are imaginary, I think you will like this book!

Count me with the crowd that does not like the message of this book. The Rainbow Fish doesn't even have to give away parts of himself to be liked, in the beginning of the book the other fish wanted to play with him. It was his nasty attitude that pushed people away, so that should have been addressed. Instead it is told that you can give away pieces of yourself to be liked. Yuck.

Ultra-thinly veiled illustration of socialist principles. In The Rainbow Fish, we learn that nobody should have more than 'their fair share' of anything valuable or desirable. The happy ending come when the beautiful [wealthy] rainbow fish has been stripped of nearly all of it's scales so that they can be distributed to all the other less fortunate sea creatures.
Now, instead of having the occasional instance of outstanding beauty, we are left with everyone in the community being given a colorful scale or 2 so that nobody truly outshines anyone else. This concept is best described by the villain in Pixar's The Incredibles. When he attempts to create super powers for everyone, he says,

"...and when everyone is special, then no one will be."

Of course, the tragic difference here is that the villain in Incredibles is at least attempting to build everyone up. In Marcus Pfister's world, we not only equalize everyone so that no one is special; we do it by tearing down anyone who excels.
If these are the social concepts you seek to instill in your child, then this is an excellent book for you.

This was my absolute favorite book when I was in the 2nd grade. Over...20 years ago. :) I purchased it for my 1.5 year old Nephew for Christmas. He loves books and being read to. I hope he grows up loving this book just like I did as a child. The condition of the book was perfect. No damage anywhere. The pages were crisp and the shiny scales on the Rainbow fish are how I remember them. ( My favorite part of the pictures/book). I highly recommend this to any little one that loves to read or be read to. It's a great story!

As others reviewers pointed out, this book is not just a story, it's a story with a message - and the message is confusing at best, and terrible at worst. I assume we should perhaps translate the shiny scales into toys or superficial possessions, even though that is already executed poorly because this fish has scales on its body. (Couldn't it have been crumbs of food or something that he first refuses to share, but then accepts to/ Why is it a part of the fish's body?)

I'm stuck with this book because my daughter refused to have me read it to her for weeks (she needs a sharing message desperately; she didn't want to share the book). But now I'll have to try to "adapt" and change the story while I'm reading it.

I don't understand how this book doesn't have more bad reviews; the reviews were what got me to buy this in the first place. Read this somewhere and decide if the message is fine with you.

My young daughter was immediately draw to the beautiful illustrations in this book when she saw it at the bookstore and would not put it down. It was amazing to watch her become so immersed into her imaginative world, turning the pages making up stories about the fish and their undersea world. That's the reason I bought the book, and honestly, didn't even read it prior to leaving the store.

We've read it about a dozen times since then and it is easily her favorite book of the many we have at home. I think it's fostered a love for reading and creativity within her and for that alone I'm thankful. My only issue has been that it seems a little long for the age it's designed for, and at times I've had to be more brief to hold her attention.

As for the debate about the message contained within the book, I had not considered that it promoted socialist ideals until reading these reviews. Now that I've reread the book I can see how it could construed that way.

When my daughter and I read this story together I told her that it was possible to be beautiful on the outside, but very ugly on the inside- and that being kind to others made you beautiful. We will keep this book and still read it, but I'll be sure to clarify that being kind doesn't mean she can't be special, or that she has to give everything she has away to others.

I'd still recommend this book to others and I'd tell other parents to read it themselves, and find a meaning within it that they want to pass along to their children. A child's morals and what they grow up believing depends upon a lot more than a storybook- it depends on what you teach them.

The story is that Rainbow fish has beautiful rainbow scales and his friends like them and ask him to gift them parts of HIS BODY (his scales) because they like them. It is important to share but the lesson within the pages of this book is atrocious. Should you share with your friends? Within reason. I don't think using body parts as an example is right. Children should have the right to decline sharing and this lesson should never be in regards to one's ownership of their body. Super gross. Hated this book as a child and WILL NOT be reading it to mine.

This is one of the first books I remember being read to us in school (the other was a large edition of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom). Even though this was about 15 years ago, I distinctly remember feeling confused at the end. The scales were sparkly and oh-so-pretty, but the fish gave them up? That was crazy! But of course I did not say anything, because I knew that the teacher was trying to teach us to share. So even though I knew that it was nice of the fish to give his scales up, I didn't think I'd do the same. Such is the selfishness of humanity, especially in a 6-year-old. I think the part where my teacher went wrong is that we didn't really discuss what the book meant. Sure, sharing is good, but it should be stressed that in the beginning, the fish was selfish and materialistic -- and alone. (And no one is really happy when they are those things.) When it was read to me, I felt bad for the fish because it seemed like he gave up his happiness just to make everyone else happy. I didn't realize that the fish truly could be happy without any of those pretty scales. Those other fish didn't look like -that- much fun to play with. I thought he must be delusional or just pretending. So I got a lesson in sacrifice, while it could have been a lesson about finding your own happiness through selflessness. (This is much deeper than Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, huh?)

At the time, I wasn't too disturbed by the fish's odd actions. I shrugged it off as another sharing speech and paid most attention to the pretty, sparkly scales. They were fun to look at. (Ironically, if the scales were less pretty, it might have made the fish's happiness more believable.)

I'm still very much a capitalist. I wasn't scarred for life. The true lesson simply didn't stick with me because it's something that needs more explaining than the book alone provides. I think this book has good potential. It has to if I remember it after all this time. You just can't expect the book to explain the moral clearly, because it won't. That's your job. And I'm just going to throw this out there: Even if this book seems to have a socialist-like message, I don't see why that's so detrimental when kids in the U.S. are constantly bombarded with the opposite. Doing something for the good of the group instead of yourself is something that we all should consider from time to time, even if your kids think the idea is "crazy" like I did.

I read this book when in was in pre school and loved the pretty colors so it's been a favorite of mine and now I got it for my nephew and he loves it. You should see how happy he gets when we he sees the cover and he flips the pages.
To the people giving it negative reviews because of their negative outlook on something so innocent are truly idiotic. It's a book for children. I never got any other message besides sharing. I didn't grow up to be bullied or buy friends or mutilate myself. Look, if you're trying to teach your kid a life lesson with books instead of being an actual parent, and do it yourself, then your obviously doing it wrong. Books aren't supposed to be about morals and life lessons they're mainly supposed to introduce your children to reading and gravitate them towards wanting to they themselves read their own books. So if you think this book is going to psychologically damage your child then put the book down and analyze your outlook on things and be a parent that teaches their kid how to share versus expecting the book to do the job for you.

I made an exception to my practice of reading children's books before buying them and bought this based on the ratings. I won't make that mistake again. This book doesn't teach the value of sharing but rather coercion. It's about a fish with beautiful scales who is coerced into giving them to other fish. If the fish doesn't give away his/her scales, the other fish won't be his/her friend. Further, I am trying to teach my daughter that her body is her own and no one should influence how she uses it. This book does the opposite and teaches that others have the right to your body. I returned the book promptly.

What a horrible message for children. In order for the fish to be accepted in the community, it had to give away all it's special scales until all the fish had 1 special scale a piece. Bernie, was that you playing the octopus?

Terrible message aside, the art work is pretty and my 4yo did enjoy the shiny details on the pages.

I was looking for a cute fish book for a little girl to remember her trip to the aquarium. I picked this up and read it in the bookstore. I was shocked at this book, why is explained below, and I strongly suggest that you carefully consider the book's message. Please keep in mind that I did not come into this book with any preconceived ideas and I did not read a single review prior to reading the book. But after one reading, I realized this is not a book about sharing but about discrimination, conformity, bullying, self-mutilation, etc. I am sure the author did not intend this, but let me explain to you why this is the message of the book.

Summary of the book:
The rainbow fish was born with a natural gift of beautiful sparkly scales (note its a genetic trait the same as blue eyes or blond hair). Because of how beautiful she was, the other fish discriminated against and mocked her (note they were not punished for that bullying). The rainbow fish therefore could not make friends and was terribly lonely. So the only way to make friends was to rip off all but one of her beautiful scales and give them away to those who had persecuted her (self-mutilation). Only when she bribed others by giving them things, could she have friends and be happy with herself. Seriously that is the story in this book but written in more colorful words with pretty pictures.

So what this book actually teaches are the following:

1. You should be ashamed of your natural beauty, talents, giftings, etc. and others have the right to hate you and discriminate against you for them.

2. In order to make friends you have to destroy yourself or bribe them because having friends and not being lonely are the only things that can possibly make you happy in life.

3. No one can get along unless everyone is exactly the same and has exactly the same things.

All of this is totally the opposite message we should be giving to our children! Diversity in talents, skin color, hair types, abilities, giftings, etc. is what makes our society INTERESTING and children should never mock others because of those differences and no child should feel ashamed for being smart or beautiful or athletic. They should use those talents to serve others and work together as a team.

Therefore find another book to read to your kid that actually deals with sharing.

This is a wonderful book, and I love the message. When *YOU* have something that *I* want, then that means *I* have rights to it and it is your obligation to give it to me, otherwise you are worthy of scorn and social rejection.

If you’re really awesome, you should chop yourself up into little pieces to make other people happy. Alternative interpretation: if you have a lot of awesome stuff and people won’t play with you because they’re jealous of you, give them all your stuff.

I hate this book. And if I could give it no stars, I would. When I was a new parent, I made sure my kids NEVER read this book or owned it. Horrible, horrible advice to give young children, but completely in step with the modern socialist agenda. Teaching kids that being unique and having special talents is wrong, and if you don't have something that someone else has, then that person has to share it with you, is a horrible life lesson. This author is a horrible person for putting these ideas into print.

I was looking for a cute fish book for a little girl to remember her trip to the aquarium. I picked this up and read it in the bookstore. I was shocked at this book, why is explained below, and I strongly suggest that you carefully consider the book's message. Please keep in mind that I did not come into this book with any preconceived ideas and I did not read a single review prior to reading the book. But after one reading, I realized this is not a book about sharing but about discrimination, conformity, bullying, self-mutilation, etc. I am sure the author did not intend this, but let me explain to you why this is the message of the book.

Summary of the book:
The rainbow fish was born with a natural gift of beautiful sparkly scales (note its a genetic trait the same as blue eyes or blond hair). Because of how beautiful she was, the other fish discriminated against and mocked her (note they were not punished for that bullying). The rainbow fish therefore could not make friends and was terribly lonely. So the only way to make friends was to rip off all but one of her beautiful scales and give them away to those who had persecuted her (self-mutilation). Only when she bribed others by giving them things, could she have friends and be happy with herself. Seriously that is the story in this book but written in more colorful words with pretty pictures.

So what this book actually teaches are the following:

1. You should be ashamed of your natural beauty, talents, giftings, etc. and others have the right to hate you and discriminate against you for them.

2. In order to make friends you have to destroy yourself or bribe them because having friends and not being lonely are the only things that can possibly make you happy in life.

3. No one can get along unless everyone is exactly the same and has exactly the same things.

All of this is totally the opposite message we should be giving to our children! Diversity in talents, skin color, hair types, abilities, giftings, etc. is what makes our society INTERESTING and children should never mock others because of those differences and no child should feel ashamed for being smart or beautiful or athletic. They should use those talents to serve others and work together as a team.

Therefore find another book to read to your kid that actually deals with sharing.

Rape culture, prostitution, socialist agenda, buying friends at the expense of your own body--this book has it all.

I'm all for teaching my children to share, but this poor fish had a beautiful body and in order to gain acceptance, she had to literally tear off pieces of it and give it to the other jealous, hostile, and demanding fish.

It's one thing to share your possessions. It's another to degrade your own body for the pleasure of others.

I have not been so disturbed by a children's book since Souperchicken, a children's book about the wrongful beheading of chickens.

I am young enough that not only did someone read this to me when I was small but I remember it. I remember it FREAKED ME OUT. In retrospect, I realize the book is supposed to be about sharing and not being stuck up, but it failed miserably. The thing is, scales are not possessions. Scales are a part of the fish's body, and are therefore much more central to identity than possessions. This is not like sharing clothes--this is like giving up your hair because other people are jealous of it.

The message I received was nobody will like you if you are special until you make yourself un-special.

It is really beautiful, however.

This was and still is one of my most favorite books! I love how Marcus Pfister both wrote and illustrated this book. He is truly talented.
This book tells of the story of a beautiful fish with special shiny scales. He swims around all day getting compliments from his friends, and loves the attention. When his friends ask if they can have one of his shiny scales. He declines and says that he doesn't want to give up any of his special scales. They make him feel special and he doesn't want to lose that. After saying no to all of his friends, he realizes that he no longer has any friends. He cared too much about himself. So he swims around and finds all his friends and gives them each a scale. Now they are all special and all his friends love him for being so kind and sharing his special gift.
This book shows how important it is to share and be nice to our friends. If we are selfish and greedy, then people won't want to hang around us. This kind of behavior makes them feel bad. But when we are kind and giving of the things that we have, then we bring others up and make them feel special. Life is only fun when you share it with those you love. And the thing that truly makes you feel special is making others feel special as well. I would highly recommend this book and I know that I will personally use it with my own children. Great Book!!!!

Hated this book. My son had to read this for required reading. Basically, all the other fish are jealous of Rainbow Fish's beautiful shiny scales. So they pout and won't be his friend. In the end, Rainbow Fish takes all of his scales off and distributes them evenly to the other fish. Now the other fish are his friend again.

The one redeeming theme is that we shouldn't brag about the talents or things we have. However, this is overshadowed by catering to those who are jealous and those who are only your friend because of what you can do for them. Instead of teaching kids to be thankful for their gifts and find a way to use them to help others, it taught my son that he needs to make sure everyone is equal and no one can have anything extra.

Terrible. I want my kids to take pride in their work and talents, and temper that with a generous attitude. However, if a kid doesn't want to be friends with my son because my son has something extra, then that other kid isn't a very good friend. HATE this book.

This book is horrible. Basically, teaches kids to give up what is unique/valuable about themselves to fit in and have friends. This isn't about sharing possessions, it's about giving away part of yourself. No thanks.

A very brief summary of this controversial tale: Rainbow Fish is vain but lonely. He is proud of his glittering, jewel like scales and convinced that he should be liked for this alone, but instead, other fish either (1) find him proud and aloof, which is my interpretation, or (2) are envious of his beauty. In either case, Rainbow Fish has no friends. In order to win friends, he gives away his scales, one by one, until all the fish look alike and Rainbow Fish is accepted by them. The message that the book conveys to a young child depends on the reader’s interpretation, and this deserves a word of caution: we must teach children to be generous, and sharing is important, but to be truly happy, they must also learn to be themselves. The foil illustrations are initially appealing though they soon lose their allure, and a secondary criticism is the text: the translation is awkward, for example in the line “The other fish were amazed at his beauty.” There is certainly a more child friendly way of expressing their awe. A best seller, yes, but I would not rank this book a classic. Children rarely request it again and again.

I had the board book. I thought this was a book about the virtue of sharing. Instead it's about sacrificing one's self, not to help those in need or brighten someone's day, but with the motive of buying covetous friends (who needs those?). It has been recycled.

I can understand the different points of view on this book. It was intended to be about sharing--but it could be interpreted differently. Actually, there is something to be said for the point of view that this is "socialist" (which, from my political stance, is a positive), and also for the more valid criticism that the book glorifies buying friendship.

So let me rewrite the book to deal with both. The "Rainbow Fish" SELLS his scales to the other fish for a profit, then uses the profit to buy even FANCIER scales to improve his status. The fish media puts him on TV, the plainer fish become fans of this new celebrity, and become the customers for the entrepreneurial capitalists among them who start a shiny fish-scale business, hiring working fish to produce them!

Now we have a book that truly presents the realities of the American Way of Life in the 21st century, and teaches kids about what life is REALLY like in the Good Old USA.

Incidentally, all you conservatives out there--if you want to read a REALLY socialist kids' book, take a look at "Click, Clack, Moo--Cows That Type".

When I first read this book I was a bit annoyed by the so-called friends because of their antics. They are simply ostracizing the rainbow fish for not giving them what they want. Even Beatles knew better to sing `can't buy me love'; this book almost teaches that you CAN buy love. Friends swarming around you because of what you have are no friends at all.

At the same time there IS a lesson to be learned in this book. The rainbow fish's attitude in the beginning is full of pride. He thinks lowly of those who don't have beautiful scales like his. The pride drives others away, and in the end he humbles him self by giving what he has.

When I saw so many 1 star ratings I was a bit surprised. I see the parents concerns about what kind of message this book is sending but I think it's up to the parents to guide their kids to find the right message. I focus on the `humble' aspect, that bragging would turn off friends. Another good message I got from this book was even though the rainbow fish didn't have anything to give the friends stayed.

I think this book is beautiful in its self and my daughters love this book. They pick out this book quite often for me to read to them, and I do.

I was looking for a cute fish book for a little girl to remember her trip to the aquarium. I picked this up and read it in the bookstore. I was shocked at this book, why is explained below, and I strongly suggest that you carefully consider the book's message. Please keep in mind that I did not come into this book with any preconceived ideas and I did not read a single review prior to reading the book. But after one reading, I realized this is not a book about sharing but about discrimination, conformity, bullying, self-mutilation, etc. I am sure the author did not intend this, but let me explain to you why this is the message of the book.

Summary of the book:
The rainbow fish was born with a natural gift of beautiful sparkly scales (note its a genetic trait the same as blue eyes or blond hair). Because of how beautiful she was, the other fish discriminated against and mocked her (note they were not punished for that bullying). The rainbow fish therefore could not make friends and was terribly lonely. So the only way to make friends was to rip off all but one of her beautiful scales and give them away to those who had persecuted her (self-mutilation). Only when she bribed others by giving them things, could she have friends and be happy with herself. Seriously that is the story in this book but written in more colorful words with pretty pictures.

So what this book actually teaches are the following:

1. You should be ashamed of your natural beauty, talents, giftings, etc. and others have the right to hate you and discriminate against you for them.

2. In order to make friends you have to destroy yourself or bribe them because having friends and not being lonely are the only things that can possibly make you happy in life.

3. No one can get along unless everyone is exactly the same and has exactly the same things.

All of this is totally the opposite message we should be giving to our children! Diversity in talents, skin color, hair types, abilities, giftings, etc. is what makes our society INTERESTING and children should never mock others because of those differences and no child should feel ashamed for being smart or beautiful or athletic. They should use those talents to serve others and work together as a team.

Therefore find another book to read to your kid that actually deals with sharing.

This is a beautiful book and the shiny scales are very attractive to babies of all ages. Although I understand where one-star reviewers are coming from, I think that once a child is old enough to understand the message he will be old enough to recieve the complete version of this story, which explains the fish's "sharing" in better detail. Keep in mind that babies young enough for a board book will be equally happy with your own narration of the story. I think a perhaps poor abbreviation of a great story is outweighed by how cute the board book is, and I'm sure babies will be more interested in the shiny scales on the pages than the specific narration of the story.

It took our children just minutes to learn to play this Rainbow Fish variation on Old Maid. What sets this little game apart is that you don't just make matches. Instead, you take the 2 cards and put them side by side. Together they form a beautiful picture from the books. The whole deck of cards is beautiful and each picture is illuminated with holographic foil accents, just like the Rainbow Fish books.

This is the only version of "Old Maid" that we play now. We love the excitement created by trying to avoid the dreaded shark card!

I bought this book for my children when they were very young. It was lovely to look at and included a little finger puppet. Then as I read the story I regretted purchasing it. Yes, the fish was proud and vain. But plucking his scales and giving them away one by one in order to have "friends" made me sad. What if there had been more friends than scales?

Would have preferred a story that demonstrates that true beauty comes from the inside.

I remember loving this book when I was little and I loved buying it for my baby. She likes the colors and the scales, they get her attention and she'll try peeling them off. lol

I bought the board book one so she can flip the pages easily. It has a good message about learning to share.

I find this book to be severely problematic for gifted or autistic children. It does not read to me as a message about sharing. Instead, based on my own experience with other children, it said, "The only way people will accept you is if you tear out everything that makes you who you are." Some of us need to be encouraged, instead, to school with other Rainbow Fish.

I don’t like this book. Instead of speaking of sharing an object, the author uses a part of the fish that “should be” shared. If the fish doesn’t share it’s shiny scales the other fish won’t be it’s friend??? Hmmm. No one should have to become “less beautiful” for others to like them.

Yes, I know some will feel that those who dislike this book are analyzing it to death, and if you are one who dislikes analyzing, you may really enjoy this book, and you can skip the rest of my review. Having said that, though, I found the story line for this book to be very disturbing. On the surface the story is about sharing, and indeed that message is conveyed. However, several other themes come across as well, and I think they are more prominent. First, if you refuse to give up what makes you special or beautiful when someone asks for it you will be rejected. Second, one is loved and valued for what one has to give away to other people. Third, it's not OK to stand out in some way - everyone must be the same.
Despite the disturbing (to me) themes, I found the book to be beautifully illustrated. We have the bath book version, and the illustrations are much more beautiful and complex than your average bath book. The colors in the illustrations are all within the same color family, though (adjacent on the color wheel for you artists) - purple, blue, green. This color scheme is appealing to me, but my daughter finds it boring, and doesn't really like to look at this book.
I don't read the story to my daughter because the themes concern me, but if your child likes the colors and pictures it's a nice book just to look at together. We "read" the things in the pictures rather than the story ("Look it's a pretty fish with shiny scales" "Where's the seashell?" etc) and that works fine. I wouldn't buy the book for myself, but I didn't throw it away when someone gave it to me either.
Bottom line for you fish lovers: What happens when you take away a fish's scales? Answer: It dies.

"You only make friends if you give them something. And the fact that they have enough of one thing justifies you asking for it AND ignoring them if they don't give it to you."

I had a talk with my 4yo that you make friends by being kind and loving. It doesn't matter what material possessions they have or what you have to be friends.

I was stunned by the message of the book. So the ordinary fish were jealous of the beautiful rainbow fish and wanted his beautiful scales. When he refused, they isolated him. In the end the beautiful rainbow fish gave away pieces of himself to win their friendship. I'm all for sharing. But definitely not with people who are jealous and only want to "include" me if they could take things from me. Yikes

Probably as a result of my Great Depression-molded grandmother, I'm borderline neurotic about not finding a use for something--use it yourself, give it away, donate, something... don't throw anything out unless it's truly just trash. I threw this book out. It's inappropriate for children despite its surface beauty. I won't repeat the better-articulated details from the top 1-star reviews, but I have a slight quibble with some of those reviews insofar as I didn't see the story as Marxist. It's more that resource-endowed creatures (the fish with beautiful scales) can buy whatever they want (friendship of the envious horde), which seems more elite-private-school-as-depicted-by-hollywood to me. Well, left or right, there is a solid case for hating this book.

There's a slew of books about sharing and caring that aren't loaded with horrible messages. Lots of other books with beautiful illustrations. Do your kid a favor and pick something else.

Marcus Pfister, The Rainbow Fish (North-South, 1992)

It seems everyone in the world except me had heard of this book, which I have now been given to understand is a classic kids' picture book. So, not wanting to be left out (as usual), I grabbed a copy from the library and gave it a go. (How popular it is can be measured by how long I waited for this on hold-- close to six months.) And it's not bad, if a bit gimmicky (the little reflective bits on the pages, which seems a lot more like something someone in marketing came up with, rather than the author saying "hey, wouldn't this be cool?") and more than a bit heavy-handed (this is one case where my well-trod phrase "as subtle as a week-old dead haddock" is actually more apropos than usual). And, of course, the book's moral has been done eight hundred thousand times in kidlit, so if you prefer your kids getting the "sharing is caring" message in a more well-presented way, you've certainly no shortage of alternatives. But the shiny bits will probably hold your kids' attention, and it's an easy-to-follow story. Not bad. ***

I totally agree with the negative reviews. My daughter sometimes asks me to read it to her and I must remember to get rid of it. I just use it as a tool to teach values that were not intended by the author.

Allow me to add to the list of negatives by the other reviewers. For example, the blue fish should be detached and simply admire the shiny scales. It's rude to ask to have one of them. My daughter is four and I asked her if it's polite to tell her friend Emma that you like her stickers (yes). Is it polite to ask her to give you one of her stickers (no)? More important is not to backbite. The blue fish should not have gone to the other fish to tell them the rainbow fish wouldn't give away one of his scales. His backbiting caused all the other fish to shun the rainbow fish. The rainbow fish gave away his scales in order to have friends, not for the intrinsic "goodness" of the act. This book is just atrocious.

This has to be the worst children's book I've ever read. Basically the ending says that if you don't give people what they ask for then they won't like you and you'll have no friends. It's extremely materialistic.

Rainbow fish needs a little tweaking.

While I get the general idea, I think there was a little problem with wording here. Using this as a teaching tool for special needs children, I feel bizarre teaching "The fish demanded that Rainbow hand over his scales. He said no, so nobody like him. So, Rainbow Fish gave each fish a scale that he ripped from his lil fishy body, and because of this they agreed to be his friends instead of ignoring him. He was sooo happy! The end."

While the emphasis is probably supposed to be about sharing and being unselfish, it comes across as "If you want people to like you, you have to give them stuff!" or "If someone is really your friend, he should give YOU stuff." In a funny way, in trying to teach that materialism is bad, it sort of sends the opposite message. Sure, Rainbow Fish learns about being giving - but on the other side, the other fish in the ocean don't want to be his friend until he gives them a worthwhile gift.

On the other hand, this is a beautiful book, and has a story line that is just the perfect level for children at the "early narrative" language level. Not a lot of sub-context; less than 10 events overall; a very quick and clear: introduction - problem - resolution format. Not to mention, the follow-up craft possibilities are endless.

If a child is advanced enough to read the text on her own, well, she's probably able to understand a conversation regarding what the book means. For other children, I change the wording slightly to talk about Rainbow Fish refusing to "share" when the other fish want a turn.

This book starts out talking about a beautiful fish with shiny scales, who refuses to give his scales away, when asked to by a random smaller fish. Because of his refusal he becomes lonely as no one wants to be around him, until gives away his scales and has many friends due to his sharing and generosity.

As a parent I understand the need to teach our children to share, and to be giving. However, The Rainbow Fish goes a bit beyond that, telling a story where you are not able to have friends unless you give them gifts. It reminds me of a very lonely child at school who gives people things so others will like him. On the up-side it does speak of the happiness that can be found in giving things to others (Why I gave it two stars) and the illustrations are very captivating - especially for toddlers and infants.

Overall I would Not recommend this book to other parents, even with all the pretty pictures.

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.

This book is a beautiful story with an important lesson. It is a long-time favorite of mine. I came back to buy it again and was astonished at the negative reviews...I won't even comment about those....
Suffice it to say...if you're not a crazy hippie/liberal/find-something-wrong-with-everything-that-isn't-you person....this is a great book!

My daughter has always loved this book, and it's beautiful illustrations are no doubt why. The moral of the story is that if you are greedy and selfish you will also be lonely (not unlike the message Scrooge learned one christmas eve). The author took it a bit too far, in my opinion, when all of the fish see Rainbow fish sharing with the little blue fish, and every fish swims over and demands a shiny scale. The Rainbow Fish gives away every scale but one, and is surrounded by fish that didn't want to play with him before he gave them a scale.

When I read this with my daughter, I always point out that the other fish are being greedy, too, and that it's not nice to play with someone only because they give you something. Rainbow fish should stand up for himself, he can share with his friends, but still keep some of his treasure, too. Talking about it doesn't change the ending, but I hope it gives my daughter something to think about. I have always wondered if something was lost in translation, or if it's my American point of view that changes the meaning of the story for me.

Octopus essentially says "go buy your friends" by giving them your material possessions. Not by improving your manners or becoming more amiable, but by giving away who you are and bringing yourself down to the level of underachievers.
Notice how in the end all was well because everyone was "equal" (equally ugly and poorly suited to their environment). Rainbow fish was the tall poppy so of course he is portrayed with a bad attitude (the evil rich) and of course he had to to be cut down by the octopus (a symbol for big government with all its tentacles). If this was about slamming materialism/narcicism, why not just throw his scales away. Why should he give them to others - wouldn't that mean the materialism is ok as a long as it is uniformly distributed. This is INSANE!!!!!
If you have things others don't have, you can only be happy by giving them away. This is a book only Castro and soccer moms could love. At the end there is a group hug and everyone is happy and unoffended. Make sure your children's school teachers don't read this to your kids!!! If they do, make sure you tell them how wrong the rainbow fish was to give away that which made him unique. Talk about slamming individuality in favor of conformity. I thought liberals were supposed to be non-confromists...

I was appalled the first time I read this book. It was given to us for my daughter - I would never have purchased this for her.
This book can be interpreted in three ways:
1. Rainbow Fish will only be accepted by the other fish if he gives away his many shiny scales so that each fish possesses the same number of shiny scales - thus it is socialism.
2. Rainbow Fish will only be accepted by the other fish when he is the same as all of the others by not being unique (especially uniquely beautiful). Rainbow Fish can not be more than the other fish in any way. This perfectly describes the philosophy of our modern educational system - everyone must be dumbed down to the same point - no one can be smarter than the others.
3. Rainbow Fish suffers from the Ugly Fish Union. They will unionize to make sure they get what they want from Rainbow Fish. My apology to union employees - I'm a union member myself, but do not like the way unions are abused. Perhaps I should have likened the story to mob racketeering.
The book claims to be about sharing, but is far too off base in its presumption. Sharing is what you do with things you possess. Rainbow Fish gives away his shiny scales - he gives away what makes him Rainbow Fish - this is not sharing, but rather is self-destruction.
The key to any of these interpretations is that Rainbow Fish is not loved for being Rainbow Fish and the only solution is to minimize his uniqueness in order to be loved. This solution is far too simplistic (its totally wrong) to work in real life.
This is not a message that I will teach my daughter. I want her to be secure and confident in her uniquenesses. I hope she will never feel that she needs to become someone other than she is to be loved and accepted by those around her.

The moral of this story is that if you want to have friends you must hide or give away everything about yourself that makes you unique, beautiful and special. Its really disturbing and left me feeling vaguely sad. There are much better books that teach children about sharing without teaching them that they must destroy themselves in doing so.

This book misses a golden chance to teach a great lesson about being proud of one's unique talents, special gifts, and abilities. Instead, it instructs that one must forgo individuality and strive to be part of the collective in order to be happy. It's great to share, but you don't have to destroy yourself in the process. That 'wise' old octopus should be nurturing the other jealous fish to see their own beauty. Who knows, may one of those fish can engineer great castles of corral, maybe another fish can swim faster than all the rest, another could sing better than the rest but they never know because the octopus overseer ensures they strive toward mediocrity.
If you explain that the octopus is the government, and that the government destroys personal liberties and redistributes treasures when it gets its tentacles into something, then this book might have some value, but I doubt that is the author's intended message. Pity.

This book will soon become one of your child's favorites. No one is immune to the stunning beauty of the vivid watercolors that are highlighted with reflective, colored foil to make the Rainbow Fish shimmer across the page. The sheer gorgeousness of the image makes the moral of the story hit home like a smack into the middle of your forehead. All children have trouble learning to share, and this book makes an eloquent case for why that's in your child's best interest. It is easy to see why this book won the American Bookseller's 1995 Book of the Year Award!
The Rainbow Fish was simply "the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean." He had scales that "were every shade of blue and green and purple, with sparkling silver scales among them." Not only was he the most beautiful, the "other fish were amazed at his beauty." When the other fish invited him, "Come play with us!", he would just glide by. But he did enjoy being admired.
When one of the fish asked for a scale, the Rainbow Fish haughtily said, "Get away from me!" Pretty soon everyone avoided the Rainbow Fish, and he was lonely.
The rest of the story describes how Rainbow Fish achieved happiness through sharing. In the process, he makes the whole ocean more beautiful and his own life a study in connectedness. Psychologists tell us that people have both a need to be distinctive and a need to be connected. Those desires can cause behavior that improves one satisfaction at the expense of the other. The Rainbow Fish effectively shows how the two dimensions can be combined through locating and sharing with others who have the same interests.
This book will be improved by some discussions because a child may not have the experience to know how to extend the moral of this story into her or his own life. For example, your child doesn't need to permanently give away 90 percent of his or her toys in order to have any friends. However, your child should be prepared to share 100 percent of toys when friends or relatives visit. You can explain to your child how the same sharing will occur in reverse when visiting the other children. In that way, everyone has more and more fun.
You can also use the story to help explain the joys of giving to those in need. For example, you could read this book before your child trick or treats for UNICEF (or helps raise money for some other charity) for the first time.
Unfortunately, your child can mistakenly see this book as suggesting that it is a bad idea to stand out. That can be harmful in areas like academic achievement, where there is a lot of peer pressure not to excel in some schools. You want your child to understand that excellence is praiseworthy, but pridefulness and rudeness towards others are not.
You can turn this around by encouraging your child to come up with games and activities that can be shared with others. When we share the richness of our minds, the lives of all are improved. The bounty we receive in return is boundless.
I like books that raise fundamental questions about how to live an upright and emotionally rich life, and The Rainbow Fish will provide many wonderful opportunities for discussions of this sort. As a result, you will have more wonderful experiences with your child. That's a great benefit to get from sharing this book!
After you have finished reading the book many times, ask your child how a person can obtain more happiness. You will be impressed with the good ideas you will hear, and you can enjoy the happiness of seeing the beauty of your child's character in the answers.
Create beauty through giving!

Ordered this book two days ago & just received it today!(:
This was my favorite childhood book & I have a son now that I am sharing this book with . He absolutely loved it & loved the shiny scales ! Book was in excellent brand new condition. I was so scared to have a defective copy , but so glad it was perfect!

The Rainbow Fish has beautiful eye catching illustrations. The illustrations are very expressive and detailed. Especially the foil that is used for the Rainbow Fish's scales. This book is appropriate for early childhood classrooms. This book teaches a wonderful lesson to children about sharing. It teaches the lesson that in life it is not only good to take and to receive but that it is also good to give and share with others. It is a good book to read in the beginning of the school year to students to teach them about friendship and sharing. Students will remember and cherish this story throughout there school years and in life.

Rainbow fish is a great book for young kids. It has colorful, sparkly images, and a simple story line about sharing. This is a great book for young kids to learn the importance of sharing what they have with others, and that what's on the outside doesn't matter nearly as much as what they have on the inside. I've read many reviews about how the fish is giving away his originality, which left those readers believing that this is a negative message to send to kids. In the ultimate age of the egocentric youth and me-me-me-the-world-revolves-around-me, it's okay to send to message to kids at a young age that giving a part of themselves to make others happy can be a good thing. And giving up the "pretty" part of themselves may make them happier in the end, as long as they maintain their integrity and create relationships with those around them.

This is a cute little picture book about a vain fish which loves its beautiful rainbow scales more than anything....until it realizes that its own vanity and selfishness has made it the loneliest fish in the sea, even if it WAS the most beautiful. An endearing story about how friendship and giving is more important than outer beauty.

This is such a wonderful book! Of course for a child usually the pictures are the first to impress. THE RAINBOW FISH will far exceed any child's expectations! (Who doesn't love rainbow-colors with foil that sparkles even in dim light!) Also the watercolor illustrations are delightful. The complete package of the pictures PLUS the story is what makes this book exceptional. The story is simple yet holds much wisdom.
THE RAINBOW FISH is the most beautiful fish in the sea. All the other fish are amazed at his outward beauty, however; judging from the way he responded to a simple request to share, THE RAINBOW FISH shows his "true colors" (vanity and selfishness.) Of course the news spreads throughout the sea and soon no one will have anything to do with THE RAINBOW FISH. Sad and lonely, he goes for advice from the Wise Octopus. She basically says "SHARING WITH OTHERS BRINGS TRUE HAPPINESS."
THE RAINBOW FISH reluctantly takes her advice; and discovers she was right. The more he shares the happier he becomes. He realizes that life is not about "getting" (being selfish) but "giving" (being generous.) And giving of yourself is the greatest gift of all! (This is not about money.) Sharing is a valuable lesson for children to learn and the sooner the better.
I highly recommend this book! Five stars doesn't do it justice... it gets that from the illustrations alone. If you don't already own it; get it! You will not be disappointed.

My daughters love this book, primarily for the illustrations. This book often gets mixed reviews from adults, some who find the message troubling. However, to those who might see a Socialist bent, or other negative moral, as a Libertarian I offer this: By discussing the various aspects of the story with your child, you can make the moral lesson to your liking. The rainbow fish is unhappy and lonely because he has something that other fish covet, however he is unwilling to share. Certainly the rainbow fish has no obligation to share his scales and nobody (not government nor society) in the book coerces him into doing so. Indeed the rainbow fish discovers how good it can make one feel to voluntarily give to others. He doesn't just receive friends in exchange for goods as some have shallowly accused, but looked at in another light the rainbow fish donates not only for others' material wants but because it MAKES HIM FEEL GOOD INSIDE. It is also in the community's interest. An important lesson for children is that voluntary giving is a good thing and our society, if it is to remain free, depends on it. I applaud the lesson in this book of free giving over coerced taxation or socialism. And, so others might not think I'm off my rocker in over-politicizing this book..I must point out that the characters are fabulous, the paintings gorgeous and both my young daughters find it irresistable. My youngest, at 2 and 1/2 is a HUGE rainbow fish fan, and that makes me a fan too.

Someone gave my daughter this book, and after one reading I tossed it. As many other reviewers have pointed out, the book begins with a premise which could serve to teach many valuable lessons. The protagonist is more beautiful than all the other fish, and is prideful because of his beauty. Rather than creating a story where the fish must deal with his pride, the author instead points to the fish's beauty as the source of his problem. In order to win acceptance with the other fish, he removes his beautiful scales and gives them to the other fish to buy their affection. If the author wants us all to be socialists, he should begin by giving his book away for free (hopefully, he won't. The last thing we need is greater circulation of claptrap such as this).

I've read the reviews on here and was surprised to find such a sharp divide in how this story is interpreted. Some say it's just about sharing while others insist it's about caving in to social pressure in order to fit in. From what I understand, there's actually a little bit of both in this story.

It's true that the little fish, instead of asking for a scale (may I have one?) demands it ("please GIVE me one!") and Rainbow fish's trouble starts when everybody turns away and shuns him as a result of his refusal. It's also true he only wins their affection back AFTER giving away all of his beautiful scales.

But this small summary, by itself, suggests that Rainbow fish is a victim in some way, and he very clearly is not. It's also completely untrue to say that he was only accepted into the fold after giving everybody a scale. Most people who say this seem to be ignoring the very beginning, in which the other fish encourage him to play with them and ask him to join in their games. Rainbow Fish purposefully ignores them, obviously being too cool to mingle in the likes of plainer, less-pretty fish. And if the little fish was rude to demand a scale, Rainbow Fish was twice as rude in how he refused ("You want one of MY special scales? Who do you think you are? Get away from me!")

It is *not* that Rainbow Fish refuses, but *how* he refuses, coupled with his general 'I'm-better-than-everybody' attitude, that make him unpopular. Remember that he never wanted to be apart the group necessarily, he just wanted to swim around and look cool while everyone admired him. It's only after they stop paying attention to his uniqueness that Rainbow Fish feels lonely. ("What good are my scales if no one is around to admire them?") This fish is focused entirely too much on his vanity and his pride. He doesn't think he's anybody worthwhile if he can't be pretty (just like his perception of the plain fishes).

I admit, it would have made for a much more meaningful ending if Rainbow Fish decided to give the other fishies his scales on his own initiative, instead of having a horde of other fish coming around to ask for one, but it's not exactly an unrealistic scenario either. After all, who doesn't crowd around a guy giving away free stuff? But it's clearly shown that Rainbow Fish isn't caving in because he feels pressured to; he genuinely enjoys making the others happy. And even though he only ends up with one scale for himself, he's learned that there are more meaningful things in life other than being beautiful, such as sharing, being nice, and making friends.

So okay, the book has it's problems, but I do think the story was intended to have good morals for children. I can't say I've personally heard of any kid learning "I have to give all my valuables away in order to fit in" from this story (that seems to be what some adults learn though), but if you feel the need it certainly can't hurt to discuss what the real message is if you read it to your child.

I am quite young (born 1997), and I had not thought about this book in a long time. One day I saw something on the internet about it, and I remembered how fond I had been of this book. I was shocked to see people debating the idea behind it. Socialism? Communism? are you kidding me people? When I was a kid, I had no idea what these things were, and I saw a very clear message; share and people will want to be around you. Parents seem to over analyse, and assume that their children can think the same way they do. Well, as someone who was read this all the time before bed, I can tell you, this simply isn't true. Buy the book, its colourful, its nice, its literally a book about a fish who shares. Your kids will love it.

While the intended moral of the story may be "sharing" it fails miserably in its attempt to portray it. It really says that friendship is conditional. That you must somehow "buy" it. Such friendships are alwsys shallow, fair weather at best, exploitive at worst.
The Octopus (that produces ink like a squid?) is the main villain in this story. First, she fails to understand that the Rainbow Fish was rejected not for having prettier scales than the other fish, but rather for being snobbish. Rather than being urged to mutilate himself by ripping out his own scales, the Rainbow Fish should have been taught that each fish is beautiful in its own way. Having learned this, he would no longer be snobbish. Not only would he then gain the respect of the other fish, but also he would establish a much truer friendship with them than one that was simply bought.
The epilogue to the story: The Rainbow Fish, deprived of his protective scales, dies of exposure and infection. The other fish, those who have not been killed by an allergic reaction to the rainbow fish scales, watch their own pilfered rainbow scales shrivel up and die, since they are no longer attached to the owner.

I bought this for my son because I liked the illustrations. Honestly, I wish that I hadn't. Like others have already noted, the message in this story is horrible as written. That message being that everyone should be the same and that you should give something that you hold dear to others simply because they want you to.

That is the exact opposite of what I want my son to learn. I want him to revel in his uniqueness and have no fear of being proud of things that others may jealously tear him apart for (modesty is good, but recognizing ways that your special is also good!). I do not want him to ever feel like he needs to give in to the demands of others. And I want him to share because he WANTS to share and not because he fears repercussions. In fact, someone who feels entitled to something he has is someone who doesn't deserve it.

So, since I have this book and honestly don't even want to gift it to someone else, I tell my own story using the illustrations. When the little fish gets angry that the Rainbow Fish won't give him a scale, my version is that it makes the Rainbow Fish sad and he doesn't understand why the little fish and all the other fish are being so mean to him. He seeks out the starfish and then the octopus (squid?), who tells him that sometimes people react poorly when they see that someone else has something they want and that Rainbow Fish should explore the ocean for fish who will be nicer to him. RF does this and finds a friend who admires his shiny scales and invites RF to play with his friends. The friends all have single scales and don't make demands of him and RF is no longer lonely. I don't really acknowledge how RF only has one shiny scale at the end, though I'll probably just say that he offered some of his scales to some of the other fish if it comes up. (BY CHOICE, not pressure!). Obviously, this isn't a perfect rewrite... I'd prefer the fish at the end be varied and not all fish with a shiny scale, but that's not what's drawn.

I really couldn't recommend this book to anyone as I really don't like what it's saying. Which is really a shame because it's pretty!

Whether you are a fan of the Rainbow Fish stories, or whether you just appreciate the art (many people are ambivalent about the moral of the story, but find the picture quality of the books very high), this hand puppet will please you.
It looks and sparkles just like the Rainbow Fish in the books. As a hand puppet, it works very well as an adjunct to reading the story aloud. On display in a child's room (or elsewhere), it is really quite lovely.

This book is pretty. "Beautifully illustrated?" Eh, maybe. But it's definitely one of those hidden message stories. Hiding under what appears to be just sharing, are a lot of themes I don't want to teach my child. The first time I read it, I knew I didn't like it much. Definitely seemed like buying friends or something like that, that just didn't settle well. I thought the other fish were the mean ones and forced the Rainbow fish into it. That didn't seem right. But the first time my husband read it, he LOST HIS MIND calling it socialist propaganda. Do I feel that strongly? No, but I believe his argument has definite credence to it. There are plenty of other books that teach sharing in a better way.

This is a book about a fish who becomes a social outcast by refusing to give away his possessions who then redeems himself by giving away his possessions (the rainbow scales) until he has only one left, thus making everyone accept him.

The message is so blatant and heavy handed that it could have been written by a one-dimensional villain from an Ayn Rand novel.

Certainly a good book could be written about the isolation of thinking yourself better than everyone else, but that book could have been written without a political message of wealth redistribution.

I was looking for a cute fish book for a little girl to remember her trip to the aquarium. I picked this up and read it in the bookstore. I was shocked at this book, why is explained below, and I strongly suggest that you carefully consider the book's message. Please keep in mind that I did not come into this book with any preconceived ideas and I did not read a single review prior to reading the book. But after one reading, I realized this is not a book about sharing but about discrimination, conformity, bullying, self-mutilation, etc. I am sure the author did not intend this, but let me explain to you why this is the message of the book.

Summary of the book:
The rainbow fish was born with a natural gift of beautiful sparkly scales (note its a genetic trait the same as blue eyes or blond hair). Because of how beautiful she was, the other fish discriminated against and mocked her (note they were not punished for that bullying). The rainbow fish therefore could not make friends and was terribly lonely. So the only way to make friends was to rip off all but one of her beautiful scales and give them away to those who had persecuted her (self-mutilation). Only when she bribed others by giving them things, could she have friends and be happy with herself. Seriously that is the story in this book but written in more colorful words with pretty pictures.

So what this book actually teaches are the following:

1. You should be ashamed of your natural beauty, talents, giftings, etc. and others have the right to hate you and discriminate against you for them.

2. In order to make friends you have to destroy yourself or bribe them because having friends and not being lonely are the only things that can possibly make you happy in life.

3. No one can get along unless everyone is exactly the same and has exactly the same things.

All of this is totally the opposite message we should be giving to our children! Diversity in talents, skin color, hair types, abilities, giftings, etc. is what makes our society INTERESTING and children should never mock others because of those differences and no child should feel ashamed for being smart or beautiful or athletic. They should use those talents to serve others and work together as a team.

Therefore find another book to read to your kid that actually deals with sharing.

I was gratified to see the trillions of lousy reviews for this book on the store. Still, I thought I'd throw in my shimmering scale too! And for those who think the book is some sort of insidious left-wing plot -- sorry, I'm as progressive as they come, and I hate the lousy thing too.

The book's "Give up what makes you special and bribe your way to friendship" message has been adequately dissed in other reviews, but even leaving that aside, this just isn't a very good book. The text is insipid and the illustrations (once you look past the very lovely hologram foil effects) are weakly executed. If it had no "message" at all, this would still be a mediocre book, with no wit, originality, or compelling characters to recommend it. Two stars for the pretty kid-attracting fishy scales -- I would give it 1 1/2 if allowed.

I thought the art had a certain charm, and used strictly as a picture book for children who can't yet read, I think it's quite nice. (Too bad you can't make up your own story to go with it.) The moment the child starts to read, though--better hide it quick, because...

Unfortunately, the book reads like a condensed Communist Manifesto for kids (as others have noted), or a Socialist agenda primer. I don't know for sure that's what Marcus Pfister had as an aim, and I'm not going to speculate on his politics. He has three kids and may raise them as he likes, and indulge in any such philosophical musings as float his boat.

Yes, I suppose sharing is nice. Certainly sharing one's talents and abilities for the betterment of others is a great thing--but in America, we get paid for that (charity is voluntary, not coerced). Furthermore, stripping yourself of what makes you unique and interesting (not necessarily BETTER, just unique and interesting), or giving away all your possessions, is a lousy way to make and keep friends, isn't it? Is this book implying that somehow friendship can only be obtained by placating envy (a negative personal quality that should be dealt with by self-examination and intent to change, not pandering)? Is it saying that being interesting and having unique qualities is bad?

Almost seems like it, at least to me. Furthermore, there's an overtone of "only by belonging to a group can you have self-worth," which is as hoary a case of balderdash as ever I've seen. Of course, people who agree with that egregious sentiment will disagree with me, but that won't make them right.

(The two stars, if you must know, are for the art.)

Quote:

"Despite some jazzy special effects achieved with shimmery holographs, this cautionary tale about selfishness and vanity has trouble staying afloat. Rainbow Fish, "the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean," refuses to share his prized iridescent scales--which, indeed, flash and sparkle like prisms as each page is turned. When his greed leaves him without friends or admirers, the lonely fish seeks advice from the wise octopus, who counsels him to give away his beauty and "discover how to be happy." The translation from the original German text doesn't enhance the story's predictable plot, and lapses into somewhat vague descriptions: after sharing a single scale, "a rather peculiar feeling came over Rainbow Fish." Deep purples, blues and greens bleed together in Pfister's liquid watercolors; unfortunately, the watery effect is abruptly interrupted by a few stark white, text-only pages. Ages 4-8."

My friend says this, and I agree:

"So the fish has something everyone else wants and everyone gets mad at him out of jealousy so what advice does he get?
give your stuff to the jealous people so they will like you. stupidest thing i've ever heard."

"the fish is not special any more and everyone else got free stuff from social intimidation. it's a crappy story"

We have this book in the large, hardback format. Our kids love it! For a baby shower, we recently purchased the board book version. Buyers beware! It’s a shortened version. Wish the details informed buyers about this. How frustrating?!

This is one of my favorite kids books. People who think it was socialist propaganda are shallow thinkers. This book is about in general sharing for happiness of others. When someone needs a hand or perhaps sharing a joke with others brings happiness to everyone. The overall message to children is to help others and spread joy otherwise selfishness will lead to loneliness. You can still have a capitalist system and help others. It's no different from getting Christmas presents for others and receiving them back. If everyone was helping each other out then we wouldn't have as many problems today. The illustrations are beautifully drawn and there's shiny scales which even adults love. This book is super awesome and I'm sad some people don't know how to enjoy things as I'm against socialism myself and found it to be a wonderful book.

A child will only interpret this book the way their parents do. If you want to see it as a negative book about giving into peer pressure and "buying" your friends, then obviously you will unintentionally teach your kids to look for these symbols & meanings in books as well.

If you want to see Rainbow Fish as a selfish fish who ultimately learns that selfishness and arrogance leads to loneliness and that sharing is nice and makes everyone happy, then your kids will see that instead.

Are parents not reading this book WITH their kids? When I read books I explain to children what is going on and answer their questions about friends, pride, and sharing. I have never once had a child ask me about communism or why RF's arrogance is not acceptable to everyone else.

What I find awesome and amazing is that all of the negative comments about the book are written by people who CLEARLY didn't get the most obvious moral of the book: There is nothing wrong with being different but you don't have to be a dick about it.

The Rainbow Fish book contains page after page of beautiful illustrations. The unique quality is the foil stamped glittering scales.

The Fish is so beautiful that all the other fish want one of its scales. When the "rainbow fish" refuses, he is left alone and seeks advice from the wise octopus.

After sharing a scale with each of the fish he makes new friends and finds that giving is very rewarding. This book only takes a few minutes to read, but the lessons last a lifetime. The glittering scales are just so pretty, children will love them!

~The Rebecca Review
Author of Seasoned with Love: A collection of
best-loved recipes inspired by over 40 cultures

A beautiful fish is asked by another fish to give him one of his colorful scales. He says no and I was shocked to read that he was ostracized by the other fish for this. Eventually he becomes so lonely that he allows all the fish to strip him of all his scales except for one. It's implied that the Rainbow fish deserves to be friendless because he didn't want to give away his scales--the very thing most special to him. Bullying and social exclusion is a big problem in schools today and experiencing this can leave life long scars. It can even lead to suicide. I'm not saying this book necessarily contributes in any large way to the shunning that goes on in our schools but it has an ominous message. It says that shunning someone for not doing what you want is okay. Children need to be taught acceptance and tolerance--not to use shunning as a tool for getting what they want.

Sharing is good--giving up almost everything you have is not. It's not like the fish had two sandwiches and refused to give one to the other fish. The rainbow fish was asked to give up something very special to him. We parents are generally encouraged to tell our children it is okay not to share your lovey or your most favorite toys. We should encourage sharing but it is okay to say no too. A child shouldn't feel under such pressure to say yes every time someone asks him/her for something of theirs. So the vehement reaction to the rainbow fish's "no" is way out of line. You should share often and give but it's okay to say no sometimes--especially if you're asked to share something that is very important to you.

An alternative ending would be the Rainbow fish finding a school of friendlier fish who admire his scales and enjoy telling him about their own special attributes. Perhaps the Rainbow fish becomes very close to one of the other fish and they become best friends. After knowing each other a long time the Rainbow fish realizes he loves this other fish and gives the other fish one of his scales as a very special gift. And, of course, the other fish never asked for one of his scales. It was given freely without pressure or the threat of punishment.

I enjoyed the illustrations and can imagine that kids would be attracted by the sparkly fish scales. While normally I would be all for whatever gets kids engaged with reading, the message here appears to be: To make friends, give away the things that make you beautiful and unique until everyone (figuratively all the fish in the sea) becomes alike. I understand the author is trying to illustrate sharing when the rainbow fish gives away his scales to the other fish, but that can be done without the related message of giving away physical parts of himself in order to make friends. What about an ending where the rainbow fish shares something else -- stories, compliments, snacks, anything -- and in the end, the other fish like him for who he is? I found the ending of all the fish having his scales and them all looking the same sad and troubling. Kids have enough subliminal messages about their appearance, conformity etc. The point about sharing could be and has been better made elsewhere.

This book was a gift to my 2-year old, but has now been hidden away. It seems possible to draw positive messages out of the book, namely that (1) someone who has special "gifts" (shiny scales, here) shouldn't be rude to others, and (2) having shiny scales won't really make you happy. However, this positive message can be easily confused with the more pernicious messages that (1) it's justifiable to ostracize someone that's different from the crowd, and (2) if you have been given gifts, you should "share" them with everyone who demands (yes, demands: "Give me just one little scale!") this of you. Gee, if I'm good at playing soccer, then how do I "share" this? The obvious way to achieve the situation at the end of this book--everyone is the same--is just choose to *not* play soccer better than my peers, meaning not as well as I could. If the "shiny scales" are taken to represent money or possessions in general, then the book amounts to a brainwashing in Marxism. We'll all be happy if only those who have more possessions will give them up to the community. I always wondered what happens to the poor fish that aren't among the lucky 15 or 20 who get to share the rainbow fish's scales. What happens when he is only down to one? The result is an "oligarchy" of a few fish who each have one shiny scale. Message: Obviously they're all better off than the millions of other fish who have none. The negative message remains: Shiny scales make the fish happy. That's what my 2-year old got out of the last page, when I asked "Why are all the fish happy now?" Probably a well-intentioned book, but a failure to convey a clear and profitable message.

I received this book as a gift. Thankfully, I read it to my 3 month old twins so they really couldn't understand it. The moral of this book goes against everything we teach our kids about being themselves and making friends. What this book tells kids is that if you give others "your most valuable possessions" they will be your friends, and that everyone should look the same. I was dumbfounded when I read this book. All the other fish (that looked the same) shunned the fish that was different because it wouldn't give the other fish it's shinny scales. The idea of the fish taking off pieces of his flesh and body to make friends and discontinue to be exiled is disturbing. These are not the morals I want to teach my kids. I will never read The Rainbow Fish to my kids again.

ISBN 1558580093 - It's a rare thing that I read a childrens' book knowing full well that there is an actual critical debate going on about it, but The Rainbow Fish is one of those. With that in mind, I'll begin with those parents. The message any child gets from a book that is read to them is more dependent upon you than the contents of the book. If you're going to be all freaked out by some wacky idea that this book teaches socialism, you're going to convey that to your child and you will do more harm than the book, all by itself, ever could - in that case, just pass up this book. No harm done to anyone. While I think you're crazy, I think you have the right to make that choice.

If, on the other hand, you can manage two things: to actually read the book and get the message (which isn't socialism/fascism/communism and isn't really sharing, either) and to understand that you are not 4 years old and your 4 year old doesn't think the way you do, then this book is worth picking up.

A beautiful, conceited fish lives in the deep part of the ocean. His scales sparkle and shine as he swims through the ocean - alone. The other fish attempt to befriend him, but he ignores them until one day when a small blue fish approaches him. The small blue fish tells the Rainbow Fish how beautiful his scales are, and asks for one of them. Horrified, the Rainbow Fish refuses and swims on, puzzling aloud over his loneliness. A crab directs him to an octopus, whose advice is simple: give away his scales to the other fish and he will be happy. After some thought, and a second request from the small blue fish, the Rainbow Fish takes the octopus's advice and finds friendship and happiness.

Let's face it - this book has a large number of 5-star and 1-star reviews for a reason. Here's my two cents on those reasons: One, look closely at reviews and you'll notice that many negative reviews are for the board book edition, which is truncated to suit the format. The book has already been translated from its original language (Swiss) and then it's edited to fit a smaller book - of course there is going to be missing information in that version. Two, adults are reading this book, assessing it by their own standards and forgetting that children see a very different story here. Adults see the scales as what they are in the real world: a part of the body of a living creature that doesn't talk. In this book, which isn't the real world (as evidenced by the talking fish), the scales are more comparable to clothing or jewelry - a possession, not a physical feature. Adults also seem to fail to see one glaring thing: while their eyes are on the "give away your possessions" issue, they forget the way the story starts. In the beginning, the Rainbow Fish is vain and lonely, concerned only with his scales and their beauty, certain that he should be liked for his beauty alone ("I really am beautiful. Why doesn't anybody like me?").

The idea that the message here is about sharing is easily proven false. The summary inside reads "The most beautiful fish in the entire ocean discovers the real value of personal beauty and friendship" - not a single word there about sharing. The message in this book is more about not letting your possessions possess you, about understanding that others won't like you just because you're pretty, and about recognizing that friendship isn't about someone else adoring you but about sharing something, even if all you share is play time (not necessarily possessions). For that alone, if those are messages that you're able to convey to your child, the book is worthy of the shelf space. Add in the lovely pastel illustrations (and the person saying this usually despises pastel illustrations) by Marcus Pfister with the scales that actually sparkle and you've got a winner. The worst I can say about the book is that, perhaps, something is lost in the translation by J. Alison James. Children will enjoy the story and be very happy that, in the end, the Rainbow Fish isn't alone anymore. If you like this one, be sure to catch up with the sparkly fish in Rainbow Fish Finds His Way.

- AnnaLovesBooks

Calm down people. This book isn't anything that deserves this much discussion. It's an average quality children's book; in the story and in the illustrations. The illustrations are nothing more than a marketing gimmick to get the attention of children and parents as they pass by the shelves at the bookstore. You take away the sparkle and the illustrations become forgettable. The story is predictable and cliche', but it does appeal to children. It's a very simple story about sharing. It won't turn your child into a communist or a socialist, and it won't make them lose their individuality. The author isn't attempting to brainwash your children. He's a capitalist that figured out a way to sell books because he noticed that small children like sparkly things.

Rainbow Fish has been widely criticized for having a bad message. Well, I don't think the librarian an my school knew this because she read it frequently. I remember this book fondly and even have a framed pic of Rainbow Fish on my wall. But now that I reread it, I totally agree. This book shouldn't be read to young, impressionable children(K-2). Rainbow Fish gave all but one of his shiny scales to the other fish. Think about it parents. What if your child did that with his/her lunch money? Or lunch, for that matter?

I really like the illustrations and can see why this book was popular, I just wish it had lived up to my memories. Maybe a parent could turn the books message around by saying that Rainbow Fish acted without much thought.

R

The reader can see in the first few pages of the book that the illustrations of the book are beautiful. Moreover, my daughter enjoyed rubbing the glittering rainbow fish. In the book all of the other fish wants to play with the rainbow fish, but the Rainbow Fish is not interested. Yet, over the course of the book, the Rainbow Fish learns that "everything that shines is not gold." Parents and Teacher can you this book to teach children about being conceited.

I have always adored this book, both the beautiful colors and shimmery scales of the artwork, and the message I always took away. It is true that the message of the book depends upon the interpretation of the reader, and I always saw the scales as a metaphor for sharing in general, and for helping others, even if it means sharing the glory. Those who are selfish and want all the glory and accolades for themselves will not be as happy as if they share their "beauty" which can mean objects, but also knowledge, information or skills. I discovered this book when my children were young and it became one of my favorites and they loved it too. I ended up buying it for one of my friends at my office because I told her she was like the Rainbow Fish. She was always helpful to her co-workers, sharing her amazing talents to help everyone around her. She never needed ALL the glory, because she got accolades from being a smart and hard worker, but she also wanted everyone else around her to succeed. That's not communism or socialism, it is called being a good person who is not totally self-centered and self-absorbed, as the fish had been at the beginning of the book. It is proven in studies that one finds true happiness by helping others. And THAT is the message of this beautiful book!

Horrible message that aims to strip people of their individuality and make them feel like it is their obligation to do so.

I am glad to see all the other parents who saw the negative message in this book. I read it to my daughter when she was six months and was immediately blown away. I told my husband I wanted to burn or otherwise dispose of it, but the next day decided to keep it to read with her in the future as a lesson to show her why she should never trust what she reads in books. This is a prime example.

It's three years later and it is still sitting on my desk, waiting for when she is old enough to understand why the message in a book can be bad. The time will be soon.

I urge parents to keep the book and read it with their child when they are mature enough to show them how some books have messages that are not positive at the least.

This book is everywhere. Lots of people can't read between the lines.

It's the nastiest children's book I've seen. Actually the only one I've seen that I take issue with.

I saw this book listed at bargain book price and jumped at the chance to buy it for my son. I remember the librarian reading this story to me in elementary school and absolutely falling in love with the story and beautiful illustrations. With that being said, I was shocked to read so many negative reviews about the "message" of The Rainbow Fish. It's a childrens' book that highlights sharing, modesty, and humility, all values that I DO wish to instill in my household.

As an elementary school teacher reading these reviews, I've found it's no wonder we have a problem with children having a "me first" attitude in school. Their parents teach them to be that way!

It is okay to be exceptional. It is NOT okay to think you're better than others.

This is the original Rainbow Fish story which is a simple moral tale designed for very young children. The Rainbow Fish is beautiful, but arrogant and selfish. He has to learn that superficial qualities such as beauty and wealth cannot be valued over friendship and happiness.

It is at best an oversimplification to say this is a book about sharing, and I cannot agree at all with the reviewers who claim it is about being forced to give up one's unique identity in order to fit in with the crowd. To me that is yet another case of people impressing adult attitudes and ideals on to a children's book and I'm sad to see so many people seem to have missed the point, which is not that the Rainbow Fish gives away his shining scales, but that he learns humility. This is a charming and classic children's book from my home continent and I'm proud to have it on my daughter's bookshelf.

Lovely little socialist story of an egocentric fish that is coerced into mutilating himself, and redistributing his body parts, so that other fish would like him.

At a whopping 195 words, between 7 colorful pieces of cardboard, this overpriced story of peer pressure is suitable indoctrination for the smallest of attention spans.--Never too early to brainwash your impressionable child, so pick up The Rainbow Fish today.

I am training to be a elementary school teacher. When my professor recommended and read this book to us, everybody thought it was great, including me.
However, now that I am writing a lesson plan using this book, and writing my assignment based on this lesson, I have my doubts.
Rainbow Fish (RF) starts out OK, the problem begin when a fish with no shinning scale asked RF to give him one shinning scale because the scales are wonderful and he had so many. Now, is that what we want to teach our children - go out there and ask for something that you do not have?
Next, the fish who was rejected started telling all his friends what happened and naturally RF is left with no friends. Isn't this horrible? I don't think RF did anything wrong, the shinning scales are his and RF has every right to refuse to give them away. Are we telling our children not to be friends with people who are rich because they refuse to give us their money when they have so much?
RF then goes on a journey to discover the `truth'. `wise' creatures of the ocean advice him to share his shinning scales - give one to every fish. The outcome is, RF would have little scales left but much happier.
Of course, RF takes the advice and started doing charity - giving away all his scales and left one for himself and he becomes friends with all the recipients
Are we telling our children that we can only be friends with people who gives us things? Or that if we want friends, we need to share the most precious items with them. Never mind that all the recipients only want the shinning scales because they look beautiful.
I can only agree to helping or sharing with people who need help but in this case, all the other fish do not need shinning scales. It is as though we are telling out children that if we don't have better things in life - go out there and ask for it.
Now, I don't feel comfortable reading this book to my class.

The book has a great message. My 3 year old son absolutely LOVES this book. We checked it out at the library and he cried when we returned it. I also enjoy the illustrations, my son loves the shiny scales.

I am a college student and I just finished working on a project on the Rainbow Fish by Pfister, and his other Rainbow Fish books. I was able to read the book to a couple of children that are in my family, and that are struggling with some issues of sharing. One two year old expressed how happy she was that Rainbow Fish could share his scales with his friends. Isn't that the true meaning here? We want children to share and be happy about what they have accomplished, and that is what happens in this book. Those who think this book shows that all the fish are alike after they all share a silver scale are really reading to much into this book for preschool kids, and missing th message it shares. I look forward to reading more Rainbow Fish books, and also sharing them with more children. The wonderful colors and drawings that represent the fish are wonderful. I read Rainbow Fish from the "Big Book" series and it allowed the children to see the pictures and colors in a much bigger perspective. This is a wonderful book to share with others.

Wow, maybe I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet, but is this how adults are supposed to think? Finding ulterior and negative hidden messages in children's books? You can imagine my surprise seeing such controversy over a book I loved as a child!

My parents and grandparents used to read this book to my siblings and I, and I promise you not once with my child's mind did I EVER see socialism, self mutilation, or any of this other nonsense some seem so worked up about. What I saw was a story about vanity, selfishness, and sharing. Couple that with beautiful, rainbow-sparkly scales I loved to touch on every page and it was an instant classic in our household.

There is a valuable lesson in this book, one a child can understand, and definitely not misinterpret into negative adult ideologies. This is not a book about being disliked because you are beautiful, this is a book about humility and sharing: something I think a lot of people need to learn. Not to sound overly cliche, but "it's what's inside of you that makes you beautiful." That is the message I was taught by rainbow fish.

I will definitely read this book to my own children, and I recommend it to any parent who doesn't see ulterior motives in every children's book. Most of the time there just isn't any dark purpose, except what you put in for your child to learn.

This book has been and will continue to be enjoyed by an incredible number of young children. They aren't going to analyze it and pick it apart as 121 adult ignoramuses have done. Let kids be kids and let them continue to love this book. It's not going to taint their sensitive minds. Step back and stop acting like you're a psychiatrist.

If you're a parent who would like to teach your child the values of socialism then this is the book for you. The story suggest to the reader happiness cannot be had by those who have more than others.When the rainbow fish asked the octopus (the 8 greedy arms of big government) for advice he told the rainbow fish to give his scales away to the other fish. If you have doubts as to whether of not children books can be used as propaganda watch the movie Closet Land. Though the sympathy is meant for the heroine, there is a good argument made against her.

With this book, kids will be exposed to harmful messages about backbiting, happiness as popularity, comparison to others, giving in to peer pressure, and lessening one's uniqueness in order to appease others. Perhaps that's the "real world" some folks want to expose their kids to, but this moral story mocks my values and is definitely not the literature I want to buy and share with my family.

As a teacher, I'm a little taken aback on the reviews for this story. This is a wonderful book about sharing and good attitudes! My students (3-years-old) love this story and compliment illustrations in the full length book. If I can see that they cannot sit through the full story, I abbreviate the words or point to the pictures and ask the children to "read" me the story.

In the story, the Rainbow Fish is asked to share his shiny scales. He's arrogant and mean about it, so the other fish refuse to play with him (because he's a jerk, and not because they are jealous). After taking someone's advice that he might be happier giving away his scales; he ends up giving his shiny scales away to all the fish until they each have one... AND HE FEELS GOOD ABOUT SHARING.

I think this is a great story when discussing sharing and how good it can feel to give gifts - and I'm not a Socialist. It also teaches children if they are mean to their friends, they won't have anyone left to play with. My students have never taken away a message that you need to buy your friends or that one cannot be special and unique - because they are children and not insane adults. Those who gave the story a poor review clearly have a negative view on society and are most likely raising selfish, materialistic, bratty children.

My daughter has this book, but after reading it several times, I have found it to be somewhat problematic. The illustrations are vivid and beautiful, however the underlying story has some problems in content. The rainbow fish is the "most beautiful fish" and therefore he falls prey to vanity. Because he is full of himself, other fish choose not to associate with him. He goes and asks for advice, and is told to share his beautiful scales with those around him. When he does he makes friends.
1. If your child is the one with a superiority complex, then I think this book is great for them. Children who view themselves as better, should understand that it is through humbling oneself that you gain the greatest rewards. However,
2. If your child is one the other side of the issue, this book paints a poor picture of how to handle the situation. We should reach out to everyone, not just "nice" people. We teach through example, not by rejecting someone because they hurt or offended us. Likewise, we should never ask someone for something just because they had more that us. We should be happy with who we are: Most beautiful or not.
3. I do like the fact that the "wise Octopus" told the fish to give up what he had. This mimics Christ and the rich man in the bible. Christ tells the man to give up what is most important to him. Thus the fish must do the same. But it is dis-heartening that only because the fish does so, does he make friends. This is off-base. Friends like you for you, even if you are a show off.

Although the book is quite attractive and catches the attention of younger readers, the subtext is somewhat concerning. The moral of the story could well be interpreted as encouraging children to share their toys with others or to put their talents towards service to the community, and as a parent I would be loathe to put that sort of moral pressure on them before they are old enough to make up their own mind about such matters. Otherwise, I and my wife fear, they might grow up to be the sort of person who donates money to victims of earthquakes or typhoons, or who asks what they can do for their country rather than what their country can do for them.

The otherwise innocent story book also implicitly condones moral coercion by putting social pressure on individuals to comply with the social expectations of others, whereas we believe that the only legitimate incentives for encouraging proper behaviour are economic and legal. For example, we never put any emotional pressure on our children to discourage them from telling lies, or using bad language. Both their mother and I have made it a policy to give them chocolates or money to tell the truth and not to swear, that is, providing them with a carrot rather than a stick to encourage desirable behaviour. We recognising their fundamental right to choose to behave any way that they like as long as it isn't illegal (like jaywalking or stealing). We also both find it quite frustrating when other parents encourage their children to shun ours simply because our children have learnt to be assertive and are able to get their own way most of the time, and this book legitimises that kind of social coercion.

There is also a strong undercurrent of promoting social conformity, which we also find quite disturbing. For example, our neighbours are stuck on enforcing some artificial notions of "decency" on us even when its hot, whereas we just take off our clothes rather than conforming to their behaviour. If we were to encourage our children to conform to social expectations in this way we are fairly sure they would end up feeling obliged to appear "professional" as adults in any employment environment rather than feeling comfortable with the idea of being able to express their individuality by how they dress.

In sum, this book, despite being beautiful looking and being very easy to read, encourages self-sacrifice, unassertiveness and discourages individual self-reliance, teaching children that they should conform to the expectations of others rather than making their own decisions, and to appear like everyone else rather than standing out. In my grandparents Chinese culture they have a saying "The nail that sticks up must be hammered down" - and this is the dangerous social message that this book encourages.

I am sorry for some of the reviews of this book. I read it to my children and they enjoyed it. It was colorful and cute. The story we got from Rainbow Fish is that sharing is a nice thing to do. Maybe we did not delve deeply into some sort of hidden meaning in this book but I don't think that is the purpose for Marcus Pfister's writing this book. I don't think he was attempting to do anything other than entertain children and encourage children to love reading. It is a pretty book with a very nice fish and I leave it at that.

We bought this little book a while ago, and my kids like it because it's shiny. They are in no danger of sharing so radically as to promote communism. They are in no danger of sharing at all unless they absolutely have to. They see the pretty fish, they see him give some of his beauty to his friends, they run their fingers along the shiny scales. They ask to read it again. They're no less perceptive than any other children, but for some reason communism just doesn't occur to them while reading board books.

What makes this book so special? It's the Big Book version, published in 1992, to be used with small children in classroom settings, or in your home, for that matter. It is 18 inches by 13.3 inches, less than a quarter inch thick. Lucky the little girl or little boy who may be given a copy of this "big book" to stimulate their interest in reading, even at an early age. While many primary classrooms use this version, some lucky little girls and little boys have been given copies of this. Perhaps you will find it at your local library.
The artistic quality of the illustrations can rarely be matched, with the holographic inserts on the scales of Rainbow Fish. As you read this story to one of your little dear hearts, you will be caught up in the beauty of this fish and the blue, green, purple, and silver scales, the latter being the holographic dimension, that embellishes his personality.
Rainbow Fish is admired by all the other fish; some even ask for a scale or two, but he withholds giving scales, and they, in turn, withdraw from him; he feels the loneliness, and seeks advice from the Starfish who, in turn, sends him to seek help from the Octopus.
At this point, a love story develops when Octopus advises Rainbow Fish to "give away" a scale to each of the other fish, with the consequence of not being the most beautiful fish, but perhaps finding the way to be happy. The Octopus disappears, and as the little Blue Fish swims by, his fin touches Rainbow Fish; he asks Rainbow for "just one scale". Rainbow Fish gives in and shares a small scale with Blue Fish; he watches the Blue fish whizz by "with his new scale glittering in the water", and Rainbow Fish is in awe that so small a gesture would make another fish so happy. Soon, all the other fish surrounded him and he, in turn, gave each one a simple glittering scale. He was filled with delight, and at last, "at home among the other fish".
With only one scale remaining, Rainbow Fish was now happier than he had ever been, swimming with his friends. You see, now he looked just like them! What do you think the message of this story is? Read it, and find out!

After receiving this book as a shower gift I read it and pitched it! It is a story about a fish that is beautiful (but vain) and lonely...so he buys some friends by giving away his beautiful, shining scales. Yes, there is the lesson about not thinking yourself so grand that you do not want to play with others, however that concept is quickly lost in the prose as the fish gives away all of his scales until he looks like the other fish. WHAT NEXT??? Are we going to have a book about a wise owl that acts stupid to gain friends? This book really reeks of assimilation at all costs, and that looking like others is the road to happiness!
It is frightening to think that someone that creates television programming for children thought that this is a morality tale.
Beware!

I was familiar with the original (German) version of the book, which was a favorite with my own kids. This one is for the grandkid, and it's such an adorable book. Love the message and the illustrations.

Pfister's colorful book, "The Rainbow Fish," tells the story of a beautiful fish who has spectacular, shiny scales. The shiny scales make him, the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean. The other fish become very jealous of the Rainbow fish when he won't share his scales. Sad and alone the Rainbow fish seeks help from the octopus,. Rainbow fish realizes he needs to share his sparkling scales with his friends and not be selfish.
I think this is a wonderful book about sharing and being unselfish. The main character in the story, the Rainbow Fish, learns that his own outward beauty is not as important as his inner beauty. He also learns that by being beautiful on the inside, and giving up the beauty on the outside that he finds true happiness.
However, I have heard some people discuss the fact that this book does have some negative connotations. The story could convey that you have to buy friendship, and it is not good to stand out. I see the point in these arguments, but I do not think that is the moral that children will take from this book. I certainly did not gather that conclusion, let alone a five year old.
I think the use of the glittery material for the scales is a very eye-catching idea to use both for adults and children. Children love to look at the sparkling scales throughout the pages of the book. The rest of the ocean and fish are done in soft watercolors of blues, purples and greens. The colors give a very calming, and gentle feel throughout the book. The colors also make the sparkly scales stand out even more. You can definitely tell the Rainbow Fish is the most beautiful fish in the ocean, by the illustrations.
I personally love this book for its beautiful illustrations and the story itself. I think it sends a positive message and truly captivates the children with its eye catching and mesmerizing artistry.
The illustrator's use of soft watercolors and soft shapes add to the plot and setting of the story. The colors and shapes exemplify the flow and the serenity of the ocean. Watercolors make a perfect texture, since the surrounding is water, and they give such a soft look to the pages. The holographic material used on the Rainbow Fish, truly let the reader see how beautiful and noticeable the fish really was. Any reader will be drawn to the beauty of the Rainbow Fish, due to the pretty, sparkling scales. This truly helps develop the character's physical self.
The illustrations also reinforce the text throughout the book. For instance, when the Rainbow Fish is left alone by all the other fish, the illustrator gives the fish a sad look to him with use of line and color. The lines give the fish a sad expression and a sad floating state. Also, the colors become darker purple, and less blue. The purple colors on these pages are darker and drearier than the bright blue on the previous pages. All of the surrounding wash out of the picture, whereas they are more defined and colorful when the Rainbow Fish is happy and is surrounded with friends.
Another good example of the illustrator helping to build up the characters in the story, is evident with the illustration of the octopus. The octopus is hidden in a dark colored cave, with little detail to his body and face. This artistic quality creates a mysterious and almost intimidating characteristic to the octopus.
The overall artistic style of the illustrator helps to enhance the literally style of the author. Both, the illustrator and the author come together beautifully to portray a sensitive yet important message to the reader.

This book has a nice message, and I am looking for further Rainbow Fish books. I was shocked to see the negative reviews so prominently displayed on the store. To those who think the Rainbow Fish is "giving away his identity, or that part of himself that is unique" you are missing the fact that this is a PARABLE, not to be taken literally. Obviously a fish cannot really take off and share scales. Folks, the story is a METAPHOR for sharing your desirable possessions with others. It is not suggesting that your child should rip out her pretty blue eyes and give them away. But guess what? Being pretty does NOT qualify you as a special and unique individual -- and that's exactly what this book teaches! Don't you all know that it's "what's inside that counts?"

I'm pleased to see all the negative reviews because I hate this book. I really, really HATE this book. It's strange such a simple children's book would awake such vehement feelings, but this story is wrong on so many levels it's hard to know where to start. I'm a parent and an educator and would never choose this book, despite the pretty watercolors and gimmicky prismatic sparkly scales.

The Rainbow fish is a beautiful sparkly fish. He's also vain and rude. We see him at the beginning refusing to share his sparkly scales with a smaller fish, and subsequently all the other fish refuse to play with him. Mr. Rainbow is lonely, so he goes to the wise octopus for advise. Now, does the wise Octopus tell him to be kind to others and they will like him for who he is? No! Does he tell him to recognize the beauty in the other fish and curb his vanity? No! Does he tell him to throw a really great party and invite everyone? NO! He tells him he must give away all his sparkly scales. Yes, Rainbow is going to buy himself some friends!
The little fish arrives right on cue, and Rainbow hands out a scale. Soon every other fish is clamoring for scales, and he doles them out until everyone has one, everyone is the same, and now they can happily play together.

Now, let's pause for a moment and see what kind of message we really want to send to our children. Here are some possibilities:
* It doesn't matter how obnoxious you are, if you give away fancy presents people will like you.
* If you are more attractive than the people around you, they will not like you.
* You must be the same as people around you to enjoy their company
* Don't even bother trying to make friends with someone who is different than you.
* You should give things that are important to you away to people you don't know or they won't play with you.
* People will not like you if you have things they want and won't give them to them.
* I must change who I am for people to like me.

You get the idea. I don't want my kids to have the idea that friendships are solely based on things, or to think they have to change to be who other people want them to be - the Rainbow fish is no longer a Rainbow Fish at the end of the book, he's just like everyone else. The book had possibilities. It could have been a lesson in diversity. It could have been a lesson in being kind. It could have been a lesson on standing up to bullies. I would so much rather the Rainbow fish found new friends who liked him for who he was. But instead it's a poorly done "sharing" story where the hero doesn't share his things, he has to rip off pieces of himself until he's someone else. There are better choices.

This is a beautifully illustrated book which, on the surface, is a lesson about sharing. When you think about it a little more carefully there's another lesson: Conformity is more important than Independence. By the hero's sacrifice of the essence of what makes him special, we are also taught that mediocrity is to be valued above excellence. I think that it is neither wise nor desirable to teach our children to lower their expectations and do anything necessary to fit in with the crowd.

This book puts forth a sick message that friendship must be bought at the price of their unique advantages and talents, that conformity and uniformity are prime values. The ending -- in which the Rainbow Fish, having given away all but one of his scales, ends up the happiest fish in the sea for having as many "friends" (who are only friends because he paid them) as the other fish -- is horrible, suggesting to children that happiness comes through buying "friends," conformity and monotony. The inevitable subsequent plight of the former Rainbow Fish when his "friends" realize he no longer has anything to give them is left untold and unrealized. The message this book sends to children is a life-destroying evil one.
That having been said, the pictures are really good, and maybe the message of the book will be ignored for the pictures, which is what gives it 2 stars rather than 1.

No one's going to tell me that this is not an exceptionally good idea. I enjoyed making them with half of the kids in my family, and attacking the other half with my bepuppeted hand, just like the late (and apparently huge) Rod Hull did with Emu on Parky that time. Really funny. Though the wife sent me to bed without any supper.

This is a book that hides a hideous message under its brilliant illustrations. No one will disagree that Pfister can draw up a storm, though I wonder about his sly pen name, derived from the Latin root for fish.
But the book celebrates ostracism that drives a fish with colorful scales to tear off his scales and give them one apiece to the ostracizing herd---so that aesthetically he is dragged down to their level and so that the masses gain only a marginal improvement by completely destroying the appearance of the standout.
Sounds wonderful to me!

I love the watercolors and the artwork created in this book; the shimmery scales surely catch the eyes of the children. This book is a story about a beautiful fish who has many glittery silver scales combined with her other scales. One day when a small fish asks for one of the tinniest scales, Rainbow Fish angrily replies, "Who do you think you are?" The little fish swims back to the others and tells them how Rainbow Fish had treated him. The other fish decide to ignore Rainbow Fish. Rainbow Fish becomes very lonely. Rainbow Fish then goes to the very wise octopus and asks him why no one likes him when he is so beautiful. The octopus tells him to give each little fish a shimmery scale. Can Rainbow Fish part with his beautiful scales? Will the other fish forgive Rainbow Fish for acting so selfish? This is a beautiful story to teach children about the importance of friendships and sharing! This is an excellent book to begin the school year reading to your students!

I have used The Rainbow Fish in my junior high math classroom this year. While I realize that some people feel as though Rainbow Fish feels he must share his beautiful scales to be liked, he also experiences how great it feels when you share your "gifts" with others. As I explained to my students - we ALL have gifts - and we have hundreds of "choices" each day in which to use and share our gifts.

This book was given as a gift to my infant daughter, who loves the illustrations. Once she is able to read, however, I think I'll put this book where she can't find it. This book claims to be about sharing, but it is really about buying friends - friends that feel entitled to have what is yours. The Rainbow Fish in the story is vain because of his beautiful scales. The other fish don't like him because he won't give them his scales. The way the Rainbow Fish makes friends is to give his scales away - there is never any mention of "sharing." I think this book sends an awful message about entitlement and jealousy, and the only thing that makes this book worth a look is for the illustrations.

PLEASE do not listen to the negative reviews about this book. I am so glad I didn't! This is a great story for children about the importance of sharing and being kind to others. For the life of me, I cannot understand how people can write about communism and politics in reference to this book. It is utterly ridiculous. My daughter is 4 and she loves this book. She talks about how it makes the rainbow fish feel nice to be able to share with his friends. What more could I ask for out of a book? I almost didn't buy this book b/c of the reviews, and it was my daughter who asked me to get it. She had read it in her preschool class. I am glad I listened to my 4 year old over many of the adults who wrote a review. Clearly, she is able to see this book for what it is: a simple story about sharing and kindness. Enjoy!

Good grief! ! ! As a teacher, I read this book to children a number of years ago, and now I am purchasing one for my granddaughter.
I could not believe how some adults must over-analyze things, and speak about how the book introduces socialism or communism, or whatever. It's just a good book - - very pretty - - about a fish learning how to have friends, and learning to give. I simply could not believe how some
have politicized the book . . . I was shocked!

I am teaching this story to my first and second grade theatre students as it is part of the curriculum. But I am so bothered by its message I am finding it tough to do. It reminds me of the Kurt Vonnegut story in which the ballerina had to wear weights on her ankles so she wouldn't be better than everyone else and soar above them and the great athlete had to somehow lesson herself to keep all things equal. Why can't the Rainbow Fish be utterly beautiful and still have friends? Why must she lessen her beauty to be happy? We all have gifts that make us unique and wonderful. She should be applauded and learn how to appreciate everyone else's gifts as equal to her own instead of destroying what she is and has. I am teaching the "sharing" lesson and it just bugs me to do it. We should share but we don't have to share what makes us unique.

The Rainbow fish is a delightful children's book with alluring illistrations. The book has good moral values that children can learn from. What the reader must remember when reading this book, is that it is a children's book. Children are not going to interpret from this story that you must buy your friends. Children see a beautiful fish that gives away his most prized posetions to make others happy, and in return finds happiness himself. The message of the book can be taken out of context, but the children see the message the author is intending to teach. The message of this book is that it is better to give than recive, which is a very large issue with children. This book is beautifully written, and told in such a way that children want to read it again and again.

At first glance I thought this would be a great book about sharing and mutual respect. Boy was I wrong! A little blue fish demands one of the rainbow fish's shiny scales and when he refuses, all of the fish shun him. It is only after he gives away all but one of his unique scales that the other fish befriend him. I think that's a horrible message! After reading this to my child we talked about the outcome and I told him that the blue fish was very mean and that you should love and care for someone just the way they are, and that envy, for shiny scales or otherwise, is destructive. After that lesson we threw the book away. It's a horrible story for children disguised in a very attractive package. Stay away!

Rainbow Fish in concept doesn't actually start out badly right off...it could have been a nice little "morality play" about vanity and pride and how to be considerate of others while celebrating what makes you glitter, literally or figuratively. But that's not where Marcus Pfister chooses to go with it at all. True, at the beginning the little fish is not a very nice or sympathetic character, and does nothing to mitigate the envy of other fish towards his glittery scales. But the lesson he is taught by the octopus is just wrong in so, so many ways! I don't know what is more of a problem for me. Is it...

1) The idea that having something unique and special about you in and of itself makes you deserving of scorn and hatred (as opposed to how you choose to act because of or in spite of that uniqueness).

2) That you should "buy" yourself friends

3) That the only way to make friends if you are unique or different is to shed what is unique to fit in and stop inviting envy

4) That you should give into whatever peers and friends want from you and demand of you, just to get them to like you

5) That you should be ashamed or apologetic about your natural talents and inner or outer beauty

To those who say that it's just about "sharing" and those of us who don't like the book are reading too much into it, I respond that there are some children who process learning very deeply from books... I know because my 5 year old is one of them. I rely greatly on books (good ones..not like this one) when she is facing a crisis like friend trouble, a developmental block like potty learning, a struggle like a death in the family, a fear like her first haircut. I ask for recommendations and read books until I find one that is supportive, but subtle so that she can draw from it what she needs. I shutter to think what messages about peer pressure and self-deprication she would draw from this. She is VERY much perceptive enough, as has been for many years, to draw these negative messages from this book, and I would never want that to color her relationships with other kids or adults.

There are incredibly good books out there about sharing.. one of my favorites is "How Kind" by Mary Murphy.

Please, please don't read Rainbow Fish to your kids or anyone else's.

If you have read through some of the controversy, and are on the fence about this book, I would suggest buying the full hardcover version rather than the board book edition. Having read both, I can more readily agree with the naysayers' point of view when applied to the board book. The text is simplified in such a way that makes it easy for a vigilant parent to misunderstand the message.
However, I found the hardcover book to be perfectly lovely. In this version, it was more clear that the reason the Rainbow Fish had no friends was because of his arrogant attitude and unwillingness to share - not because the other fish were envious, or needed to be "bought" with gifts. The sharing of his scales was not to "buy" friends or to promote communism - rather, it represented his learning three important lessons: 1) that his identity need not be tied into his appearance or his possessions, 2) that he shouldn't consider himself to be superior to the other fish just because their scales were a different color than his, and 3) that sharing your blessings with those around you makes you - and them - feel good.
I highly recommend this book, in its original version.

A beautiful book that illustrates how the beautiful rainbow fish, knew how beautiful he was from his sparkling rainbow scales and he learns to share his beauty with others. He makes friends by giving some of the other fish some of his rainbow scales. He is no longer the only fish with beautiful rainbow scales, but he now has many friends. Pretty pictures & drawings.

This book must be properly framed for a child, otherwise they will take away the lesson that fitting in is much more important than finding out what it is that makes us all different and unique. The book reads just fine up until the rainbow fish is told (mandated, nearly) to share with everyone the very thing that makes it unique - hence, to dillute itself and bend to the whims of others.
I would have preferred to see the authors take a harder line against this, but I suppose that it's fitting in this day and age to teach our children that fitting in is #1, and realizing what makes you different, or special, or unique, is secondary and expendible.
A real shame.

While reading this book with my daughter, I was alarmed at the moral of this story. The rainbow fish has to literally rip his pretty scales out and hand them over to the mob in order to have friends. The other fish will only play with him if he's the same as them. Can you imagine a real life application: "Yes sweetie, I do believe the other little girls are jealous of your beautiful long blonde hair. Here, let's chop it all off so that you won't stand out, and then maybe they'll play with you." I am baffled why this book is so popular? My guess is because the rainbow fish is sparkly, so people buy it because it's a pretty book. Teachers probably use it so they can make pretty sparkly fish in art as a curriculum tie in.

Someone gave us this book as a gift, I never would have purchased it myself for my kids or any kids. To echo what others have already said, it's about a fish with shiny scales who tears off her very skin so that she can buy the friendship of a bunch of mooching losers. I read it to my kids verbatim only once, but after that made up an alternate ending in which Rainbow Fish refuses to give her scales away. Rainbow Fish is lonely for a while but eventually encounters other fish with shiny scales like herself and lives happily among them, while the other fish who tried to beg her scales away from her end up being caught by fishermen and eaten.

Read your kids Aesop's fables like The Ant and The Grasshopper instead.

Kids love the graphics. But the message -- you can ONLY be happy if you give up what is uniquely yours -- and the subtle doctrine - the "common everybody" WANTS what you HAVE -- leaves one feeling funny. Sharing is definitely to be teached but the message in Rainbow Fish is weird.

It gets a star for nice artwork but what a crappy story!! If you've been cursed with this gem use it to start a discussion on setting boundaries and limits, respect yourself and your friends by not 'buying them off' Givers must set limits because takers rarely do.

One thing that's not mentioned in all the 28 pages of reviews I've read about this book is the unfortunate reality that being nice and generous to other people will not automatically make them your friends.

Any way you interpret the analogy - whether the fish scales represent "giving of yourself" or giving money, belongings, gifts, kindness, time, or talent - people will not flock around you eager to be friends because you've given them something. It can be disillusioning and disappointing when one grows up and finds this out.

For many years I've been a philanthropist, and volunteered my time and caring and finances to help others. I've tried to be nice to everyone - from neighbors to homeless strangers to kids in juvenile hall to coworkers. What I've observed is that it's a rare day indeed that a person gets true friendship in return for sacrificially giving away one's scales. Perhaps a quarter of the time people are grateful and appreciative for what you did (but not interested in starting a friendship). About a quarter of the time your generosity is accepted but you don't get even a personal thank-you in return. (If you're giving to a large organization, you'll get a form letter, and their next request for your donations will have more zeros after the numbers.) About a quarter of the time the person you've given to becomes a sponge who then tries to milk you dry - the only time you ever hear from them is when they want more money from you. They aren't satisfied with getting just one scale, and they get really angry if you ever stop handing over scales to them when they want them. Like the fish in this book, they feel entitled to get whatever you have - it seems right to them that they go through life getting something for nothing. And about a quarter of the time your generosity is coldly or vehemently rejected, or it's taken but you're actively hated for it. I don't know if this is because the receiver is jealous that you have something to give, or they feel you must be looking down on them (even if you aren't). Perhaps they're carrying a chip on their shoulder and are quick to take offense at someone's "charity". Maybe they're embarrassed and humiliated that they needed someone's help (even if they asked for the help), and they take out their anger by lashing out at the hand that's feeding them. Maybe they've become cynical and suspicious and are sure that someone being nice to them must have ulterior motives or plans to use or manipulate them. I don't know what their personal problems are. But I do know I've been violently hated by people I knocked myself out trying to be nice to.

People do hate others for being different, and they hate you if you have anything they don't - whether that's money, or a clean upright life, or a happy family, or better grades than they have. Trying to befriend people who are excluding you or talking badly about you behind your back is not going to make them your friends, except in the world of fantasy and children's literature. My response to reading this book was to cry - because it's so sad that we go around preaching to our kids, "If you're just nice to other people and you share with them and don't act rude or stuck up, they'll all like you and want to be your friends," when it's simply not true. (Hey, even Jesus - the ideal picture of goodness and generosity, didn't have everyone wanting to be his friend.)

Other reviewers of this book have said, "I think this a great book for children because it teaches them a lesson. The lesson learned is to always share and you'll have many friends."

Or, "Ultimately, though, children who read this story will interpret on a much simpler level: The Rainbow Fish is mean and greedy, so the other fish stop playing with him. When the fish acts nice and generous, everyone plays with him again."

What do you tell a child who is nice and generous and everyone calls him a "goodie two shoes" and doesn't want to play with him? True, no one wants to play with a mean, stuck up, selfish jerk, but no one wants to play with a saint either. The whole premise and message of the book - sharing with others will make them your friends - is wishful thinking. The book's happy ending only works if you read it as a story about conforming to your peer group. Blending in and looking and acting exactly like everyone else might in fact get you accepted into the "in group". Maybe generosity is the path to happiness and social acceptance in preschool, but that isn't going to be true by middle school. Hopefully impressionable kids will have forgotten everything about the book but the pretty fish pictures by then.

This book is worse than bad, it is potentially damaging. The notions it teaches are akin to those believed by people who suffer from a Self Sacrificing schema. That is, if I keep giving and giving and giving, maybe someday people will love me and meet my needs. The only possible use I would have for this book is to provide an example for Self Sacrificing people to see that this strategy is self defeating. In a nutshell, the message is: give away your most prized possessions to any random acquaintence so that you may avoid being ostracized, and if you give of yourself (to your substantial loss) others may "include" you, even if only for a fraction of a second. If you take the book one step beyond, and postulate what happens after these so-called new "friends" are done celebrating their ill-gotten gains, one may wonder how long Rainbow Fish's warm & fuzzy feeling lasts once those bought (fake) friends decide to turn their attention onto other facinations or get annoyed when Rainbow Fish has nothing left to give. It's not a pretty scenario. I hope this book falls by the wayside FAST!

This is a terrible book. Sharing is meant to be the moral behind this story. But the subtext is really: one is not entitled to anything that makes one special but should instead give it away for the good of the whole. The beautiful things that truly make us unique can sometimes be taught to others. But, cannot be surrendered away like so many shiny scales.

I honestly didn't realize that there was such a controversy over this book. I remember having this book read to me back in elementary school and I thought it was one of the best books I had ever read. I still think this is a great book with a great lesson. This book is very well written with wonderful illustrations. The lessons in this book are that of sharing, not being selfish, and I would even say learning to accept others no matter what. I personally love this book and would love to have a copy for my own children in the future.

Pfister adds gold foil to the pages of Rainbow Fish for the fish scales. They seem to be gimmicky efforts to evoke feelings in order to enhance a weak story. The children who read the Pfister book are meant to become envious over the glitter of the gold foil as were the other fishes. Furthermore, the book is also quite steeped in the dreaded didactics. The octopus directly instructs the Rainbow Fish in "correct" behavior. Why should the Rainbow fish give up pieces of his body that protect him, to these other fish just so they will leave him alone? Some might be inclined to call this a Marxist philosophy incorrectly, but for the fact that the other little fish had no "need" for the Rainbow Fish's body parts. They simply wanted them. The worst human emotions should not be evoked in children's literature--at least not held out for modeling. Children should certainly not be encouraged to model conformity, greed, and buying friendship.

Forget about "buying friends." This is nothing less than a picture book version of the society Kurt Vonnegut described in "Harrison Bergeron." Everyone must be exactly alike. No one must stand out. What a terrible lesson for a child. Would you cut off most of your child's hair to "share" with her supposed friends? Then why would you applaud a fish giving away its scales? Instead of celebrating what makes each of us special (and perhaps teaching a lesson in humility) "The Rainbow Fish" celebrates rigid conformity. Pretty pictures aside, it's repulsive.

Whats the difference between "everyone loves raymond" and "everyone love rainbow fish"?
"Everyone love Raymond" does not prepare you for a life of Communism, entitlement and social engineering!
After reading this book to my son, I too got this warm fuzzy feeling in the deepest emptiest nether regions of my soul. but then as I sat back and contemplated the fuzziness I realized that it was something not so warm and not so fuzzy.
in fact I had an overpowering urge to drink cheap vodka, and wait in line for hours for sour and rotten food as well a subscribe to as many government entitlement programs as possible.
Do you think when Rainbow fishes parents fled a third world nation to come to America, a land paved with "silver scales" their first priority was to make sure that their child suffered the same fate as they did in thier old country. That little RF should suffer poverty, mediocrity and humiliation, I think not, RFs parents worked 80 hours a week to senf RF to a good school and college, and when RF earns his "silver scales" through his hard work and his parents sacrifice all his peers demand a part of his success, and when he denies them they shun him, and when he seeks advice from the "starfish" he is referred to yet another shadowy entity who tells him thats it is his fault? puh-lease.
And whats with the starfish, is he the octopus' politburo psychiatrist/informant? reporting the unhappiness/success of a any proletariats as he sends RF prole to the shadowy ink filled entity? Substitute "KGB" for "waves" in the Octopuses omniscient comment and it smacks of stalinist Russia.
This is Animal Farm, 1984, and the manifesto, combined, homogenized, pasturized, glorified, condensed and summarized consisely then coated with the finest illustrations as not be noticed for the bitter pill that it is, a pill that will cure all the "values" that were installed in countless generations since the founding of this country, in fact possibly the only country, where the streets are paved with "silver scales" and people still immigrate today to grab those "scales".
RAINBOW FISH- the new manual for raising a RED DIAPER BABY.
I am seriously appalled.

I remember owning this book as a kid and honestly..There's no need to pick at it like some of these reviewers have been. The only thing I remember about the book from my childhood was how shiny the scales were, and how fun they were to look at. That's about it and the story itself didn't scar me or set a bad example as I don't even entirely remember it. The colorful illustration was distracting enough from the story. Sure, it's not perfect and it didn't exactly spread the greatest message, but I can assure you that when asking a grown person who had read the book as a kid what they remembered about it, they probably wouldn't speculate endlessly on how it shaped their morals later on in life. If you show it to a young enough kid, chances are they won't even care what it's about.

So when it comes to monitoring what our kids are taking in...Well, this book is the least of your worries, trust me. Saying that this book is in the "triumvirate of picture book mediocrity...", as one reviewer put it, puzzles me. Do the people reviewing the book even remember being children?

My kids, 6 and 2 1/2, have loved this story from day one. It's illustrations are very engaging, which helps keep them interested while learning a very valuable lesson. I emphasize the fact that rainbow fish has been given a very special gift, and only in giving of himself and sharing that gift with others is his uniqueness truly appreciated.
The board book version has been condensed too much for those who want to get any value out of the story. I found it very weak. If your infant wants to look at the pictures and play with the book, the board book is fine, but I much prefer the original text in the hardcover version.

We live in a society where psychological insecurity is used and reinforced by a myriad of forces. Every advertisement tells us that we are not good enough without this or that product. Politicians sell their messages based on the public's acceptance that things are bad and getting worse. And now, here comes Marcus Pfister to jump start that insecurity in our children.

Summarizing the plot, the Rainbow Fish is beautiful, but no one's favorite friend until he gives away all his pretty scales. So what does this teach our children? That in order to be accepted, we must lower ourselves to the level of the lowest common denominator? That talent and beauty belong to everyone and those endowed with them must give them away? Or most perversely, the only way one's self-doubt and inner conflict can be overcome and a sense of real value can be instilled is by buying friends through self sacrifice. Does your child really need another element of his or her environment confirming that self worth is measured in the regard of others and that those others must be bought off?? All this book does is instill insecurity into those born with certain advantages.

Pfister is widely known for his pedantic moralizing, but this attack on the self image of children is dangerous, harmful and ugly.

Won't you take off those protective scales that grow on you so that I might look good wearing them. NO? Then not only will I not talk to you any more, but I will go and tell everyone else that they should not have anything to do with you either. If you want to be my friend, you'll have to give up whatever you like about yourself, give in to my demands, and follow me.
Of course sharing is good and right, but sharing is not in response to demands that say "Give me what I want or I'll make your life miserable." The positive feeling that comes from giving should be about doing what is right, not about buying friends or paying off enemies.

Look people. We as adults would take offense to this book had it been written for US. But this book is for babies and toddlers. The sparkle fish scales are to get a babies attention and the whole moral to the story is for toddlers. See toddlers do not share, it is not that they are destined to be selfish or mean nor does it reflect any parenting skills. They are selfish and that is how they survive! This book it just a little story about sharing. I have a one, two, and three year old and that is one lesson we have to re-teach about every ten minutes. It is a cute book full of beautiful pictures and has a cute "KIDDIE MORAL".

So, please remember...... baby/toddler books are written for baby/toddlers! :)

This book is so beautiful on the outside it's a pity that the words are so incredibly hurtful and wrong. The story is about a fish who is covered with beautiful scales. Another fish comes up and asks to be given one of the scales and the beautiful fish says no, after which none of the other fish will play with it. The fish is advised by someone "wise" to give away its beautiful scales so that the other fish will like it. It follows that advise and gives every other fish a scale so that by the end of the book the page is filled with a bunch of pathetic looking fish that all have one shiny scale and everyone is supposedly happy. For me this is a terrible moral! It's wrong to be prettier or smarter or more talented in some way? You should try to make yourself less pretty or dumber or ignore your talents so other people won't be jealous? It's OK to demand other people give you things that you covet? Yuk!

The story of the Rainbow Fish is charming and worth reading to your children.
My issue is with the product description from the store.
It stated this was a hard cover edition.
When I received it, it was a board book.
My purchase was for a five year old, who was a little insulted at being given a board book.
Same great story either way, true, but a different reading experience.

Rainbow Fish is not very nice. But I also don't think highly of that little fish that thinks it is ok to ask him for a scale.

The message seems to be that Rainbow Fish needs to give away what makes him special so that he can make friends. Buy your friends???
Surely Rainbow Fish (and the other fish) could have learned a better lesson on friendship. This book really misses the mark.

I will not read this book to my son. What a shame too because it is so pretty.

(updated after reading some of the other reviews) I do get what the other reviewers are saying about the general lesson of sharing and vanity but when I read it the other message hits me so hard that I just can't get past it. I just don't like the story.

The story sounds simple enough. A fish with beautiful scales is asked by other fish if they could have but one of the Rainbow fish's scales. The Rainbow fish refuses to do so, and begins to alienate the fish around him. Dejected, the Rainbow fish gets advice to share the scales so he will become happy. After doing so, the Rainbow fish now has one scale, just like the rest of the fish around him, and the Rainbow fish is happy.

All this under the guise of a great book on sharing. It's an important Christian concept, isn't it?

The concepts are very clear: equal distribution of wealth, and a feeling of entitlement by the non-rainbow scaled fish. The Rainbow scales are not a necessity to any fish but the Rainbow fish. The other fish are disappointed with the stinginess of the Rainbow fish and refuse to associate with the Rainbow fish. The focus of the story is on the feelings of the wealthy fish, not on the greed or need of the other fish. The values that should be taught with respect to this story is not that sharing makes you happy, but rather greed (and gossip) makes you unhappy. One should be pleased and satisfied with one's own self. The coveting of the other fish is a *bad* thing, and should not be ignored.

Sharing is important. It does have a tendency to imply return of ownership of property, however. If that isn't the case, it's called "giving" or even "sacrifice". The Rainbow fish had no obligation, morally or ethically, to give the protection of life God gave it to others. God's view is a capitalistic view. It is important to use your God-given gifts to help others selflessly, but prudently.

Communism is all about equal distribution of wealth. Everyone is equal. Nobody above any others. It isn't fair that anyone is rich. Didn't Jesus tell a story about talents that were given disproportionately? Each of the talent recipients were given different amounts. That wasn't fair, was it? The Bible also says (roughly) that those who have shown responsibility in little, more will be given for responsibility. The wealthy fish was guilted into distributing its wealth, to fish that weren't in need. That isn't what the Bible says to do. (The rich man being told to give everything away wasn't told that to make friends.)

Even if one doesn't agree with me about the existence of God, or the precepts of the Bible, please take other comments here to heart. That the book is brightly colored and pretty does nothing for the content.

This book has a terrible message. No one wants to be the Rainbow Fish's friend because he won't give them his shiney scales. Eventually Rainbow Fish gives all his scales away and everyone is his friend. So let me get this right, if I have something you want and I won't give it to you then you won't be my friend. Nice pictures, bad message.

Although the title would imply that this was a children's story in the Rainbow Fish series, this small (6 x 5") book is simply a desk calendar/agenda with the days of the year and lines for entering birthdays of family and friends. While there are a few rainbow fish illustrations within, there is no text (other than dates). I only rated it "one star" because there is no lower option.

The moral of this story - give away all that makes you unique and don't be proud of yourself or your accomplishments. Sure, you shouldn't be vain or overly greedy, but really? Give away ALL your scales (talents, abilities, things that make you special)? I think its a horrible lesson and there are much better ways to teach children selflessness. Perhaps try a book that exemplifies selflessness as a virtue instead of vilifying uniqueness.

I must admit that I wondered about the message The Rainbow Fish was sending. After all, the fish does give all but one of his scales away, and unlike in some classics like The Happy Prince, the recipients of his generosity weren't saved from an unhappy fate by his gift - they merely received something they'd admired. I kind of wondered if this encouraged over-generosity and might lead a sensitive and giving child to be taken advantage of.

However, I do think the overriding message of The Rainbow Fish is that giving is good - a message that we don't hear often enough in society today. I also think that the characterization of the fish before he decided to give his scales away - as a prideful, rude, unfriendly fish who was more concerned about his appearance than about someone else's feelings - makes it easier for a child to understand why the fish's actions at the beginning of the book were wrong. In large part, it's not simply the fact that the fish doesn't want to part with his scales but the fact that he rejects the smaller fish's request so brusquely that causes all the other fish to shun him. In that sense, giving away his scales is almost an atonement for his earlier actions.

Ultimately, though, children who read this story will interpret on a much simpler level: The Rainbow Fish is mean and greedy, so the other fish stop playing with him. When the fish acts nice and generous, everyone plays with him again. The moral of the story: Be nice and generous. I don't think anyone can fault that message.

I ordered this book thinking it was a story book....it is actually a calendar book to keep track of birthdays, anniversaries etc. Makes a cute book for that use and is sturdy.... just not what I thought it was

I hate this book. People keep giving it to my kids, and I keep throwing it in the recycle bin. I won't even pass it on to friends or donate it the way I do with most of our cast-off books; I hate it that much. Ostensibly about friendship and sharing, the message of this book is dangerous and destructive, and I would not read it to any child I cared about. The Rainbow Fish has beautiful, sparkly scales that reflect all the colors of the rainbow... but the other fish are jealous. They won't play with the Rainbow Fish until he plucks off his scales and gives them away. Pfister apparently calls this "sharing," but I call it "Self-Mutilation in Pursuit of Conformity" and I don't want any part of it. I'd rather teach my children that their differences are what make them special, and that any friend who wants to take away what makes them them, or who wants them to change to be more like the crowd, is not actually a friend at all.

When first I read this book, I was stunned: all the friends I have that own it love it and so I thought I had gotten the demonic version.

So, I read it again, and nope, it was the one everyone was raving about.

I was so stunned by the message that I immediately began checking the front page to see who/where produced this book.

I was not surprised to see it was written by a Swiss author.

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.

I was looking for a cute fish book for a little girl to remember her trip to the aquarium. I picked this up and read it in the bookstore. I was shocked at this book, why is explained below, and I strongly suggest that you carefully consider the book's message. Please keep in mind that I did not come into this book with any preconceived ideas and I did not read a single review prior to reading the book. But after one reading, I realized this is not a book about sharing but about discrimination, conformity, bullying, self-mutilation, etc. I am sure the author did not intend this, but let me explain to you why this is the message of the book.

Summary of the book:
The rainbow fish was born with a natural gift of beautiful sparkly scales (note its a genetic trait the same as blue eyes or blond hair). Because of how beautiful she was, the other fish discriminated against and mocked her (note they were not punished for that bullying). The rainbow fish therefore could not make friends and was terribly lonely. So the only way to make friends was to rip off all but one of her beautiful scales and give them away to those who had persecuted her (self-mutilation). Only when she bribed others by giving them things, could she have friends and be happy with herself. Seriously that is the story in this book but written in more colorful words with pretty pictures.

So what this book actually teaches are the following:

1. You should be ashamed of your natural beauty, talents, giftings, etc. and others have the right to hate you and discriminate against you for them.

2. In order to make friends you have to destroy yourself or bribe them because having friends and not being lonely are the only things that can possibly make you happy in life.

3. No one can get along unless everyone is exactly the same and has exactly the same things.

All of this is totally the opposite message we should be giving to our children! Diversity in talents, skin color, hair types, abilities, giftings, etc. is what makes our society INTERESTING and children should never mock others because of those differences and no child should feel ashamed for being smart or beautiful or athletic. They should use those talents to serve others and work together as a team.

Therefore find another book to read to your kid that actually deals with sharing.

Many of the other reviews express how I feel about this claptrap of a book. It has been said much better than I can, so I won't repeat the sentiment. But, for a lesson in blatant hypocrisy, check out the "see inside feature". Ain't much to see, comrade. About all you get is the copyright page that explains that the pretty scales all belong to Mr. Pfister and you can't have a single one without his permission - which he will gladly give to you in exchange for some of the currency in your possession. Not even a peek-a-boo on the store.com.
However, it is about the only page worth reading anyway. The fact that it is REQUIRED reading in many public schools is absolutely repulsive, but it speaks volumes of the current state of public education/indoctrination. The slimy little Bolshevik should be squished under a weighty tome of "Atlas Shrugged" and be put out of his misery before he dies a slow death from a nasty sea fungus infecting his raw, weeping, denuded and unscaled flesh. Nah, on second thought, the latter would be a more fitting condign punishment and a good lesson for impressionable young minds to learn.

I know a lot of people rave about this book, but I can't figure out why. The moral of the story, sharing, is obvious, but the way it is explained leaves a lot to be desired. It isn't very creative or imaginative. I've tried reading this book to my son several times and he's just not interested.

This book is purely and simply a primer for Socialism and eradicating the "self" for the "good" of the collective whole.

This is the mentality which turned the Soviet Union into a giant graveyard where everyone was dying, and this is the same mentality which has destroyed every nation which has ever attempted it. In fact, Socialism/Communism has killed more people in history than all wars combined.

Sharing is one thing. Sacrificing yourself is another.

There is only one place this road leads ... to the eradication of personal property and property rights.

Everyone should learn the value of sharing, but there is no value in giving all to those who give none.

I'm reminded of recent events, during which the United States was called "stingy" for not giving more, when, in fact, such individuals/countries will never be happy until we have given all, have nothing left, and are as destitute as they are.

Sharing is caring and sharing is a choice. No one has a stake on another's personal property nor a claim on another's life. If one is disliked for his individuality and his lot in life, he just needs to like himself enough to not care what others think.

Envy and greed make demands, while hard work and effort pay dividends.

Some of the other reviewers are reading far too much into this book. It's important to remember that the target audience is toddlers and preschoolers and although they are certainly brighter than we think they, they also tend to take things pretty literally. They are not students of political science nor are they art critics (to those who complain the paintings aren't very good). Instead, they see a story about an unhappy fish who doesn't know how to share, but learns to be happy by giving up things he doesn't need. My only complaint about the book is that the language is far too flowery and sophisticated for the target audience.

I wonder what kind of book those complaining about the so-called socialist leanings in this story. Perhaps they would be happier if the Rainbow Fish became rich by selling off his silver scales instead?

I Can't wait to purchase this book for my neice for Christmas, it was a favorite of mine growing up. I can't believe all the negative reviews there are for this book!! I mean if you're going to read that much into it, then don't purchase it and find a book that you feel is more suited to you and your child's needs. The End .