During my baby shower, someone bought me a copy of The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. I remember this book, which for many millennials is a well-known classic, as a child and loved the story. I loved the way the fish’s sparkles glimmered off the page, noting a story about collaboration, friendship, and sharing.
Though, when I sat down to read the book with my daughter, my husband and I looked at each other in confusion. What the hell was the message of this book? Apparently, we are not alone in our thinking.
Fifth-grade teacher and popular TikToker, Mr. Vương, aired his won grievance with The Rainbow Fish, admitting he does not like the book or the book’s intended message.
“I do not like this book — The Rainbow Fish. The illustrations are great, and I think the author had good intentions,” he began before explaining a bit of the plot.
“Rainbow Fish is full of himself because when all the other fish wanted to play with him, he sort of swam past them and thought he was better. Then one of the fish asked for one of his scales and he refuses, which in my opinion, I think he has the right to do that because he doesn’t have to give up part of himself or anybody.”
Vương goes on to say that a better message for the book would have been to focus on Rainbow Fish’s flaws as a person — his lack of humility and ego.
“When Rainbow Fish said no and drew a boundary, all the other fish decided not to play with him. That made it more about how all the fish didn’t accept him because he didn’t give up his scales rather than them responding to his stuck-up behavior,” he explained.
“And then later on, the wise octopus suggests to Rainbow Fish that what he needs to do is to give up his scales to the other fish. Rainbow Fish realizes that he should share, so he does that with all of the fish and then they give him acceptance.”
Rainbow Fish got accepted into the group of fish because he gave up something that made him unique and special. He had to change to get others to like him.
Though the message of The Rainbow Fish might be outdated, the OP says he still uses the book for teaching purposes, just in a different way.
He continued, “I use this book to teach about how to think critically about themes. I opened up with what theme was and then I read the story without telling them my opinion. Then the kids made all these connections themselves and some of them looked at it through the lens of, ‘Oh it’s selfishness.’ And some of them were like, ‘Wait, is he buying his friends?’”
“We had a really good discussion about how our relationships should not be transactional and conditional and you should never have to feel like you have to change yourself in order to feel like you belong,” he assured in the video.
“I also asked the kids to reflect on what did the author intended and they also did a discussion about that. So then the next part is to create an alternate ending where the theme is not that you gotta, you know, pay for your friends. It’s important that our kids think critically about the text that they read. Just because it has an award-winning sticker on it, it does not make it top-notch.”
After his video went viral, several TikTok users commented with their own thoughts on the book. Some agreed with the OP.
“THANK YOU. People look at me like I’m crazy when I say this is not a good book, along with The Giving Tree and Stellaluna,” one wrote.
“I get teaching selfishness but why’d they do it through the fish’s literal body 😭,” another said.
One joked, “…and now I know where I learned to be a people pleaser from. Thanks FYP.”
“Childhood me loves this book. Grown up me sees the problematic story. So I’m torn. Same for the Giving Tree,” another admitted.
Others disagreed with the OP’s thoughts on the messaging, saying that the scales are actually a metaphor.
“I’m pretty sure the scales are supposed to be a metaphor for pride. he gave up his pride, because that was his flaw. He “bought” by selling his pride,” one theorized.
“Love this perspective!” the OP replied.
