Literary Review
of The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Text
1. The text of a
children's book is usually organized into simple sentences and short
paragraphs. How is the text organized in the book that you have chosen to
review? Explain whether this organization was sufficient for the story that
this book is telling.
The text used in the picturebook The Rainbow Fish by
Marcus Pfister was simple and organized into short paragraphs like many other
books that fascinate young readers and yet have an underlying story or lesson.
This text organization is sufficient for the story and
captures the vocabulary used is appropriate for the age of reader who would
enjoy this book.
2. Children's book
authors often employ literary tools to help make the story more vivid in the
readers’ minds. Commonly used literary tools are rhythm, alliteration,
repetition, refrains, onomatopoeia, simile, personification, rhyme, and
imagery. Identify three different areas in the text where a literary tool has
been employed. For each example you identify, state the type of literary tool
that is used and how the employment of the tool helps support the story.
Personification-This is a
prevalent theme or tool used in this book because all the creatures living in
the deep blue sea have a personality and ability to converse with each other.
Onomatopoeia-This tool is
used in several instances in this book to describe and relate to the beauty of
Rainbow Fish’s scales. Several
examples of onomatopoeia are
“the Rainbow Fish whizzed by giving all the shiny scales
away”. The word “splash” is also an example of onomatopoeia and refers to the
way Rainbow Fish is once he has given all but one of his scales away.
Alliteration-This tool is
used to emphasize the beauty of the scales. The scales are referred to as “shining, shimmering scales”. The use of alliteration is appropriate
and gives description to the scales.
Simile-This literary tool is
used well at the very end of the story.
Once the Rainbow Fish has given away all but one of his shiny scales, he
has developed friendships and has experienced the joy of sharing/giving his
scales away. The line used is
“Rainbow Fish was as happy as a splash.”
3. Identify two areas
in the text that use a question or other device to help move the reader to the
next page.
When the small fish approaches the Rainbow fish and asks for
one of his scales. The Rainbow
fish replies, “Give you one of my scales? What are you thinking of?” This caused the small blue fish to swim
away, his feelings hurt.
The other instance where a question was used to move the
reader along was when the Rainbow Fish approached the starfish when he realized
he was all alone in the sea with no one to play with him. His comment to the starfish was, “Why
doesn’t anyone like me?” This
question makes the reader begin to think about the way the Rainbow Fish must
feel without friends. At this
point he doesn’t realize what he must do to become happy and surrounded by
others. He is still struggling
with his vanity.
Images
1. Some picture books
have images on the front cover that presents the main conflict or point of the
story. Identify two or more elements from the front cover of the book you are
reviewing and explain how they relate to the story.
The front cover does not effective address the main conflict
but does reveal the element that this brightly colored fish is all-alone and
lives in the deep blue sea void of friends. This is interesting because many recognize fish as living in
“schools” with many other fish and this beautiful one with the shiny scales is
all alone.
2. What is the
primary medium (collage, drawings, photographs, etc.) used in the images?
The primary medium is drawings probably constructed of
brilliant watercolors to give a vivid scene of life under the sea.
3. Identify the image
that in your opinion is the most effective in developing the story as a whole.
Explain how two or more elements in the illustration help support and develop
the story. If you can, insert a screenshot of the image into your blog.
This image
is most effective in developing the story as a whole. Of course in the beginning the Rainbow Fish has all the
beautiful scales but not friends. He wasn’t even willing to share with the
small blue fish that approached him.
Then after realizing that he had no friends and was alone he realized
the joy in giving one scale at a time to the other fish. He gave and gave
scales away and at last he had only one scale left. At this point he had found
happiness in giving and the joy of friendship. His vanity was no longer an issue. He now recognized that sharing with others was more
important than being the most beautiful fish in the sea. Therefore this image gives the reader
the sense that being surrounded by friends is a “happy place”. The fact that now the Rainbow fish was
no longer the only unique fish with shiny shimmering scales he felt happier
than he had been and shared his special scales with others.
4. Identify two
elements that are repeated throughout a majority of the images. Explain how
these elements support the story. If you can, insert a screenshot into your
blog.
There are many elements used throughout this picturebook
that are seen in many of the images.
One element is the size and scale
of the fish and other sea creatures shown in the images. The Rainbow Fish is very large and
flamboyant in color with shiny, shimmering scales while the other fish are smaller,
duller in color and thus less “important”. This element reinforces the idea
that the Rainbow Fish is “one of a kind”, spectacular and powerful due to his
beauty and size and the smaller fish are less powerful and “ordinary”. The octopus in the cave is also large
and powerful and demonstrates his power by convincing the Rainbow Fish to give
his scales away to be liked by the other fish whereas the small starfish
suggested the same thing but was his advice was not “heeded” by the Rainbow
Fish because he held less power.
5. Find an example of
how the images and text work together to create irony, metaphor and/or
metonymy. If you can insert a screenshot of the image into your blog.
It is evident that the title alone gives reference to a
concept of a rainbow and it’s varied color or differences and then the Rainbow
Fish is “one of a kind”, more beautiful and spectacular than any other fish in
the sea. This is an example of metonymy.
The Rainbow Fish shows the characteristic of being “special and unique”
because of his beautiful shiny scales and yet the individual color of the
scales is different and makes up a beautiful rainbow of all these spectacular,
vivid colors.
Characterization
1. What is the easily
identifiable dominant trait of the story's main character?
In the beginning the main character struggles with
vanity and sees him too good to associate with others. As the story progresses he finally
realizes that to share his scales makes him a much happier fish surrounded by
many friends.
2. Identify a character
trait of the main character that is established through the text.
The character trait of vanity and pride is evident as
the text describes how the Rainbow Fish swam around flaunting his beautiful
scales.
3. Identify a
character trait of the main character that is established through the
images.
In this book the Rainbow Fish is seen as a larger fish
than any of the other fish in the sea.
This could be evident because the author wants the reader to recognize
how magnificent the shiny scales are on the fish or that fact that pride or
vanity makes one look “puffed” up, larger than reality many times. Rainbow fish is much larger in all
images used by the author.
4. Identify two
character traits of the main character that young children identify or sympathize with.
Young children who long for a friend may be sad when
in a room alone. Children want to
play and find friendships just as Rainbow fish does in this book once he
recognizes how alone he is does he inquire of the starfish and later the octopus
on what he should do.
5. What was the main
problem that the main character faces in the book? How is this problem similar
to a problem that most children have faced before?
The main character in this book, the Rainbow Fish, struggles
to make friends because he sees himself as “too good for the others”. Because of this vanity he finds himself
alone and sad. Children tend to
learn about social status very early in life and develop prejudices about
others. Because of this they may
struggle to make friends and not see the true beauty of friendship and joy of
sharing with others. Even very
young children struggle to share and this makes play difficult with others. Once they learn to share the
environment is much more conducive to play and interaction between all
children.
In this book, the Rainbow Fish finally realizes he must do
something to make friends, he does not resort to self-reliance but seeks the
advice of first the starfish and then later the octopus. Once given the advice
he seeks to make friends by giving his scales away to the other fish.
References
Pfister, M. (1992). The rainbow fish. New York: North-South
Books.
Serafini, F. (2014). Reading the visual: an introduction
to teaching multimodal literacy. New York: Teachers Collage Press.
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