The Rainbow Fish is a children's book drawn and written by Marcus Pfister, Swiss author and illustrator, and translated into English by J. Alison James. The book is best known for its morals about the value of being an individual and for the distinctive shiny foil scales of Rainbow Fish. Decode Entertainment turned the story into an animated television series of the same name, which had aired on the HBO Family television channel in the United States and Teletoon in Canada from 1999 until 2001.
Plot
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister - Stories for Kids - Children's Books Read Along Aloud - This is a live reading of the children's book The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. Book Synopsis: The Rainbow Fish, adorned with shiny scales, is the most beautiful fish in the ocean. When...
The story tells of a fish with shiny, multi-colored scales named the Rainbow Fish. He has blue, green, and purple scales; and among them, he has shiny silver scales. He is always fond of his scales. One day, a small fish asks him if he could have one, but the Rainbow Fish refuses in a very rude manner. The other fish are very upset about his behavior and don't want to play with him anymore.
Feeling upset, his only remaining friend, the starfish, tells him to go visit the mysterious octopus for advice. The Rainbow Fish finds the octopus and asks what he should do. The octopus tells him that he must share the beauty of his scales with his friends. She tells him to share his scales with each of the other fish. And she continues to him that he may no longer be the most beautiful fish in the ocean, but he will discover how to be happy.
When he encounters the small fish a second time, the Rainbow Fish gives her one of his precious scales and, seeing the joy of this little fish, immediately feels much better. Very soon the Rainbow Fish is surrounded by other fish requesting scales and he gives to each of them one of his shiny scales.
Finally, in the end, despite having one shiny scale left (as he gave them all away to the other fish), he becomes very happy.
The moral
Reviewers have called this a "cautionary tale about selfishness and vanity" and a reminder that "sharing brings happiness and acceptance," but the moral of the book has become a widely debated topic. Interpretations include rejection of individuality and promotion of socialism.
Other interpretations include influencing children to give away their body and bodily autonomy to indulge the wants of others at their own expense. The message is seen as especially negative for girls and women who are only to be liked if they give away their "shiny parts".
The book series
- Rainbow Fish to the Rescue: About the acceptance and integration of foreigners.
- Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale: About arguments and how to settle them.
- Rainbow Fish and the Sea Monster's Cave: About irrational and rational fears.
- Rainbow Fish Finds his Way: With the help of his new friends, Rainbow Fish finds his way back home.
- Rainbow Fish Discovers the Deep Sea: About modesty and happiness.
Short film
On March 25 1997, an animated adaptation of the book was released on VHS and DVD. The home video releases also contain the film Dazzle the Dinosaur which is based on another book written by Pfister and published in 1994. The animated short film features a song called "Giving Makes You Special".
Television series
Rainbow Fish was adapted into a children's animated television series. However, the television series does not follow the plot of the book; rather it takes the character and the setting and creates a new story with them. Some characters were added and others embellished for the purposes of the show. In the series, the place where the fish live is called Neptune Bay (after Neptune, god of the sea). The fish attend school, which is aptly named "The School of Fish". There is a shipwreck called "Shipwreck Park" in the series that resembles the wreck of the RMS Titanic. It was produced by Decode Entertainment and EM.TV for Sony Wonder.
Characters
Rainbow Fish: The proud, vibrant fish that lives with his parents and sister. His favorite movie is Claminator 12. He loves it so much that it can lead to problems. He likes to play clam ball, a fictional game. He was voiced by Rhys Huber.
Sea Filly: In the first episode, she is a new girl in school. She is a beautiful seahorse, though she is half mermaid, half seahorse. She eventually becomes friends with Rainbow and Blue. She is often seen reading books. She was voiced by Chantal Strand.
Blue: Rainbow Fish's best friend, who is more down-to-earth and thoughtful than Rainbow Fish. He also enjoys playing clam ball, and also loves Claminator 12. He is a blue fish and has a baby sister called Turquoise. She is a turquoise fish. He was voiced by Andrew Francis.
Ruby: She is Rainbow Fish's older sister who is a teenager. She is arrogant, bossy, self-centered and ruby-colored. Constantly, she gets Rainbow Fish into trouble, because she gets jealous, although she actually loves him. She has her own personal nickname for Rainbow Fish; she calls him "Barnacle Boy". She was voiced by Chiara Zanni.
Sol and Aqua: Aqua is an aqua-colored fish and is Rainbow Fish's mother. Sol is purple and is Rainbow's dad. They help their daughter and son whatever way they can and will always provide them with great courage. Sol was voiced by John Payne whilst Aqua was voiced by Ellen Kennedy.
Principal Gefilte: The proud Principal of the School of Fish, he is strict about behavior. Sometimes, he can get vain. Rainbow Fish gets annoyed when he insists that they all have to write book reports. He was voiced by French Tickner.
Mrs. Chips: The teacher of the school. She teaches history, mathematics, science, and literature. She was voiced by Ellen Kennedy.
Wanda the Octopus: She is the owner of the Neptune Bay fast food restaurant. She is very wise and when Rainbow Fish and his friends are down she will always give them advice. She was voiced by Kathleen Barr.
Chomper and Stingo: The two bullies of the school. They do not really commit acts of physical violence but they can bully and tease Rainbow Fish and his friends. Chomper is a shark while Stingo is a stingray. Chomper bullies more often than Stingo. They often call Rainbow Fish "Rainbow Creep", but sometimes call him other names, like on one episode, "Rainbow Girl". Chomper was voiced by Christopher Gray and Stingo was voiced by Bill Switzer.
Sherman: The smallest of the school. He is a salt-water shrimp. To him, everything looks big. In the episode where he arrives to Neptune Bay, Rainbow Fish treats Sherman badly. In the end when Rainbow Fish gets stuck deep in the bowels of a shipwreck, Sherman hears from the TV and goes and rescues Rainbow Fish. Rainbow apologizes for his behavior. He was voiced by Alex Doduk.
Sir Sword: Local swordfish, upper-class and a bit of a busybody. He is sometimes grumpy, sometimes civil, but always seems to think he is better than everyone else. Plays Santa Sword to the kids at the local Guppies hospital. He was voiced by Colin Murdock.
Ret and Snapper: The two builders. They appear in only one episode, Moving Day. Rainbow Fish thinks they are going to be moving and Ret and Snapper will buy the house. He and his friends plan to make the house as much of a wreck as possible in order to put off any potential buyers. His parents reveal they were going to build a new recreation room.
Goldie: She appears in only one episode, Rainbow de Bergerac. Blue has a crush on her, and Rainbow Fish attempts to bring them together. However, Chomper and Stingo soon ruin the plan.
Rainbow Fish's other classmates: They do not speak in any episode, but, however, they are different shapes, sizes, and color. The first one is: a brown fish, the second one: has long body and colored violet, the third one: colored gold and has reddish-like lips, the last one: has a sleek body and has the same color as the second one. Their names are not revealed in any episode since.
Episodes
References
External links
- http://www.marcuspfister.ch
- A supplemental Rainbow Fish craft for young children
- Rainbow Fish at VoiceChasers
- Rainbow Fish on IMDb
