Magic Fish, The (Littledale)

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Description: Magic Fish, The (Littledale)

Genre: Fiction; Fairy tales; Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction; Children: Grades 2-3; General; Folklore;

Average Review: 5 stars

Review: An introduction to fairy tales, folklore, and magic: This folk tale is unlike most of the storybooks that you'll find marketed towards children. It is much closer to the original grim fairy tales in that it has something of a sense of menace and danger about it, and also lacks the now-requisite happy ending. It tells the story of a fisherman who earns the favor of a magic fish through his own good-heartedness. He has no thought of reward, but his wife convinces him to ask the fish to upgrade their hut to a house, which the fish seems happy to do. But then the wife continues to convince the fisherman to go ask the fish for upgrades, until she is Queen of the land and wants to be Queen of the Sun and the Stars. Every time the fisherman goes to ask the fish for something else, the sea is stormier, although the fish says nothing. In the end, the fish decides that the wife has asked for too much, and takes away everything. There is so much going on in this story that a child can enjoy it for years. The characters and their relationship to each other provide for an instructive discussion about why we do favors, and why we should be reasonable in our requests. It also tells us a lot about what it takes to be happy. The repetitive nature of the plot should also be comforting to children. I really recommend the 1967 edition, which was masterfully illustrated by Ed Arno. The pictures are done in blue and black, with a funky thick-line-drawing style which perfectly captures the mood of each page.