Book Talk: The Rainbow Fish

Picture Book: The Rainbow Fish

Title: The Rainbow Fish                                                           

Author/Illustrator: Marcus Pfister           

Publication Date: 1992, NordSud Verlag            

Number of pages: 24

Artistic Medium: Drawing: Pencil, Pen and Ink, Crayon, Colored Pencils

Artistic Style: Expressionism

Age Range: 3 - 6 years.

Plot Summary: Rainbow fish is the most beautiful fish in the sea. He flaunts his shiny silver scales throughout the ocean. One day, a tiny blue fish asks for one of hassles, but Rainbow fish declines and sends him away. After this, all the other fish in the sea stop talking to Rainbow fish. This upsets Rainbow fish, so he goes to the wise octopus for advice. He is told to share his beautiful scales with his friends. Reluctantly he does so, and he's the happiness it brought to all of them. In the end, Rainbow fish is happy to have shared his scales with his friends. 

Content Area: Kindergarten, Art Education

6) Share and talk about the art they are creating. 

a. Use art vocabulary: line, shape, color, and pattern.

• After reading, The Rainbow Fish to my students, we would discuss the importance of sharing with our friends, and how we are all different.
• I would give my students multiple different art supplies to share and allow them to create their own fish.
• In the end, the students will share their project with the class.
• We would notice how all of them were different, even though we shared the same supplies. 

Visual Literacy Found:

Line: Lines are used in this story to create the background. The seaweed and the rocks on the ocean floor depict the fish being underwater. The bubbles come from the rainbow fish’s mouth are also drawn to represent real life characteristics of the Rainbow fish breathing underwater. Each line add details to the images.

Shape: The starfish found within the story, is in the shape of a star. The sea urchins are in the shape of a cylinder. While the bubbles that come from the Rainbow fish’s mouth are in the shape of a circle. These shapes draw the reader in to make them feel like they’re in the ocean.

Color: There are so many beautiful colors found in this story. Rainbow fish has sparkly scales with a purple, pink, green, and blue hue. The Rainbow fish has multiple colors on him to represent him being the "most beautiful fish in the entire ocean", while the other characters have only one color.

Light: The background is a mix of pink, purple, green, blue, and white. The color changes represent the change in light in the ocean and a change of scene. They is also a "light" that stays behind Rainbow fish throughout the story to give him a "glow". This draws the readers to him and his beauty. 

Texture: Texture is seen throughout this story within the scales of the main character, Rainbow fish. The Rainbow fish has foil textured, sparkling silver scales, along with multicolored scales. There is also texture pattern over all the pages to represent the water movement. It is a tiny gingham pattern. The placement of the plants on the ocean floor also create dimension and texture. 

Composition: When all the features above are combined; beautiful images are created.

The message in this story teaches students about being different, happiness, sharing, and friendship.

The moral found in "The Rainbow Fish" makes it a great quality book to share with students. It teaches them the importance of sharing, happiness, and friendship. The visual literacy elements and characteristics also make it a good quality book. 

Learning all of the artistic elements that go into creating a single picture book has created a better appreciation of them within me. Now that I understand the details, characteristics, morals, and values that are found in them, I can pay closer attention to which ones I will select for my classroom. I can choose better quality books for my lessons and classroom library.