Their classic story of rainbow fish and how he learns to stop being so selfish and share his beautiful scales
2 Large book

I liked this book, however it is actually as collection of 5 rainbow fish stories in one. In order to understand the first story you have to have read the original Rainbow Fish story. The illustrations in all of the stories are beautiful and so detailed. I personally love that there aren't any sharp lines since its meant to look painted/ water colored, and how beautifully they bring the stories to life. All of the stories in this book could be read separately, or as a whole, which I found to be very interesting. The characters all flow from one section to the next, which I feel is a great introduction to chapter books for children. All of the stories have to do with friendship and facing your fears. In the first story Rainbow Fish met a new fish who was striped and different than he and his friends. His friends didn't care about the new fish and all left him alone, however Rainbow fish remembered what it feels like to not have any friends and he saved the striped fish from the shark and they all became friends. The big idea behind that story is that even though someone is different than you doesn't mean that you should treat them differently. They're still people and they still need friends and have feelings just like you do. The second stories big idea is that saying mean things can turn around and hurt you too, not just the person you said them about. It's easier to talk things out with someone, rather than being mean and talking about them rudely. The third stories big idea is the stereotypes about places and people are often times more scary then the actual person of place. The big idea behind the fourth story is that if you sorry about the little things then you may get swept away by the bigger things. If that happens then you need to take a step back and find your way back to where you began. The final stories big idea is that just because there are new people someplace, doesn't make it scary. In fact, those people may even be nice and you may have a good time there!