I liked this 1 star review of The Rainbow Fish:
This book is just not keeping up with the times.
In the new updated version of the book the rainbow fish (and all the other rainbow fish) would be dominated by a huge school of fish led by a community organizer fish. The community organizer fish would stir up all the other fish to rise up against the rainbow fish, telling them that the rainbow fish had acquired their scales unfairly and that those scales needed to be re-distributed. The community organizer fish uses vague nonsensical phrases like, "Hope and change," or, "We are the ones we have been waiting for," and, "Yes, we can!"
Then the community organizer fish gets all the other now disgruntled fish to elect him head fish. He then proceeds to make new fish rules and create all kinds of new fish governing agencies (staffed by his cronies) which pretty much makes life miserable for all the fish. But that's okay because, he tells them, the rainbow fish are really getting taken to the cleaners with all these new rules and regulations and that should make everyone feel really good.
It's not long before the rainbow fish are either all killed off (or just leave for safer waters) and now everyone is really miserable. Well, everyone except for the community organizer fish and his obnoxious wife (she tells all the other fish how to eat healthy even though she is obviously overweight) who go on elaborate vacations at the expense of the lesser, ordinary fish. The community organizer fish spends an inordinate amount of time golfing (even though he is clueless about how to play and cheats on his score) while the "bitter clinger" fish take on two, three or even four jobs in order to pay the bill for his extravagant lifestyle.
This book has won several awards and is beautifully illustrated, thus I made the mistake of purchasing it for my daughter without reading it all the way through. Don't make the same mistake.
This is the story of a beautiful fish who is hated and ostrasized by all the other fish in the sea because they envy his beautiful silver scales. I assumed that the moral of the story would have something to do with everyone being beautiful in his or her own way, and that eventually the other fish would come to recognize their own beauty. Unfortunately not. Instead, the Rainbow Fish is harangued and harrassed by his fellow fish until he has given away all but one of his silver scales. In the end he is very happy because he has become popular.
The morals of this story are pretty shocking: 1.) It suggests that children should give in to peer pressure. 2.) It teaches children that friendship can be bought. 3.) It says that it is not only right, but a moral imperative, to sacrifice the very essence of yourself for the sake of popularity. 4.) It suggests that popularity is the ultimate good, and that one cannot be happy without it. 5.) It teaches that envy will be rewarded. 6.) It teaches children that it's okay to ostrasize people who are different. 7.) It teaches that rude behavior is acceptable if it gets you want you want. 8.) It suggests (to younger readers in particular, who may not be capable of grasping metaphor) that only outer beauty matters. 9.) It teaches that happiness can be achieved by tearing down or destroying what belongs to others. 10.) It preaches a kind of social Marxism: that there is no value in the uniqueness of an individual, that his worth and his happiness depend on his desire to conform to the values and demands of his peer group.
Frankly, I am astounded that anyone saw fit to confer any honors upon this book.
That book was assigned in my daughter’s class about 7 years ago. My wife was reading it aloud and became so agitated at its collectivist “message” that she called me in to hear it. We contacted the school and told the (classic, Earth-mother hippie) teacher exactly what we thought of that kind of radical indoctrination posing as “education”. We made it clear that if we saw any more of that socialist claptrap, we’d pull our daughter out of school instantly and educate her ourselves. Apparently, several other parents were similarly distressed, and the lesson plans quietly reverted to more suitable texts.
You should read the reviews of the giving tree.