A Fish Out of Water

A Fish Out of Water is a beginner book written by Helen Palmer, based on a short story titled "Gustav, the Goldfish," written by Palmer's husband Dr. Seuss. In the book, a little boy (the unnamed narrator) buys a fish at the pet store and is instructed not to overfeed him. The boy comes home and tries to follow this advice but thinks his fish looks hungry still. After he pours a whole box of fish food into the bowl, Otto the fish begins to rapidly grow, quickly exceeding any container the boy moves him into next. As the situation threatens to get out of control, the boy calls in various reinforcements to help him with Otto.

This is a very fun story that moves quickly. I read it aloud when babysitting a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old, and show more both children were completely captivated by it, even the more rambunctious 6-year-old who did not sit put for any other story I read that evening. This isn't a book with a rhyming scheme or a whole lot of repetition, but it does have an easy cadence for reading aloud.

The words are by and large basic ones as the text is designed for emerging readers, but the overall story does not seem overly simplistic (i.e., an elementary school-age child would not think of it as "babyish"). Likewise, the illustrations by P.D. Eastman are fairly simple with a limited palette of oranges, greens, and grays. Yet they are lively and entertaining to look at while perfectly portraying the text with a few fun extras thrown in the details.

Even though the elements get rather fantastical, there's still enough truth at the core of this story that you could use as a cautionary tale for young children on proper care of their pets. But the silly elements also just make a fun story to share with the little ones who will be interested in hearing it or reading it on their own.

The only downside I can see to this book is that as a product of its time (and sadly, not a ton has changed in that respect), there are no female characters to be seen in its pages. A mother is mentioned in passing, but otherwise everyone is male - including the fish! There are also some less-than-PC words like "policeman" and "fireman" rather than "police officer" and "firefighter." If you're reading aloud, you could adjust the wording to fix this latter problem, but it's hard to get around the first one. show less

Excellent art. Arbitrary no-explanation rules. Arbitrary no explanation fix at end. Read to me as a kid as, "Do what your told, and never mind why - and you can't fix it or know how it's fixed." Reads the same way to me now, with an added layer of, "Wait, the bloke selling the fish *knows* this will happen and sells without explanation anyway. That's all kinds of wrong."

*shrugs*

I'm easily miffed by kids books, I guess.

A cute book with the nostalgic illustration style we've all come to know and love over the years. When you see a book peeking out of the stack with this illustration style....you know it's either a Dr Suess or one in this series.

Written in the likewise familiar style of this series, this book has the expected humor and entertainment factor, with a dose of life lesson....following rules is important!!

A FISH OUT OF WATER by Helen Palmer is a cute story perfect for beginning readers. This short book is about a little boy who to the pet store to by a goldfish. Upon choosing which fish he wants to take home, the pet storeowner Mr. Carp instructs him to only feed the fish "so much and no more". After getting home, the boy feeds his fish, Otto, just like the Mr. Carp told him to. But after a moment, he ends up dumping the entire box of food into the fish bowl. Otto begins to grow and grow and grow, to a point where he doesn't even fit in the town swimming pool. Eventually, the boy must call Mr. Carp to come help save the day. This is a fun little story to read with young children who may just be starting to read themselves. The text is show more large and the words are pretty basic. There is a little rhyming throughout the book, but it only appears when a specific phrase is being said. I think kids could have fun with this part, if they know it is coming up they can say it out loud with the reader. Despite the simple language, the storyline is not too one-dimensional. The plot actually has a large element of fantasy and I think little kids will enjoy the outlandish storyline. The illustrations add a lot to this story. Although they are simple sketches with only a three-tone color palette, what the pictures are depicting is fun for the reader to engage with. Of course, this story has the underlying message of listening to and doing what you're told, especially when it is an authority figure. This is something that could be discussed with students in the classroom. And as a fun activity, students could think of time they didn't listen to instructions someone gave them. They could write a story about what happened because they didn't listen and make up their own exaggerations of the situation, following Palmer's example. show less

A young boy hilariously learns the consequences of not following instructions when he feeds too much to his goldfish--causing it to grow as big as a whale!

What would happen if you (naughtily) overfed your li'l ol' goldfish? Helen Palmer shows us, using P.D. Eastman's fantastic drawings. This was a favorite of mine as a child, and the moral lesson (obey adults!) is timeless and non-preachy. Great stuff.

A young boy hilariously learns the consequences of not following instructions when he feeds too much to his goldfish--causing it to grow as big as a whale!