Bre Avery Zacharski
“The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister is a popular kid’s book, and it’s one I read back when I was little.
I’ll give you a quick rundown of the book in case you’ve never opened it: basically, there’s this fish with eye-catching, unique scales, which sets him apart from other fish in the sea. It also makes him super vain, which in turn causes him to be lonely.
The book’s message is that being beautiful doesn’t gain you friends and that sharing things that mean the most to you is of utmost importance.
A fifth-grade teacher named Mr. Vuong, who goes by @teamvuong on TikTok, is opening up about the most upsetting lesson he sees in “The Rainbow Fish.”
Mr. Vuong starts off by saying that the illustrations in the book are amazing, and he truly believes that Marcus Pfister, the book’s author, created it with the best of intentions.
That being said, at one point in the book, another fish asks the Rainbow Fish to give away one of his scales, which Rainbow Fish refuses to do.
Mr. Vuong states that Rainbow Fish absolutely had the right to decline to share since “he doesn’t have to give up any part of himself for anybody.”
Mr. Vuong goes on to suggest a better message for the book: focusing in on the flaw of Rainbow Fish, which is his arrogance and his belief that he’s above all the other fish.
Back to the book: when Rainbow Fish decides to keep his scales to himself, the rest of the fish stop playing with and including him.
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