The tension is palpable when the young boy and girl bring home a large, walrus-like pet and wonder how their mother will feel about their deed; no preschooler could miss this reference to the Teapot Dome scandal. Similarly, their advice to get a pet Yink simply because of its fondness for pale red india writing product is a sardonic commentary on rampant consumerism. And the camel-like Wump shows his prophetic realization that our demand for oil would force us to deal with the Saudis on a regular basis.

Seuss warns us of the coming divide in these United States in the introduction: "From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere." It starts with the fish, red, blue, and black (but not white, showing where Geisel's sympathies lie), young and old, then proceeds up the evolutionary chain to large land mammals, eventually including the aforementioned school-aged boy and girl. They serve as the Adam and Eve as well as the Joe and Joan Sixpak of the book. They espouse embracing what is different while they reinforce doing the same.

Seuss knew where we were headed in both 2000 and 2004, and this book shows the way out. The US has plenty of (pale) red ink, so we should get a Yink. I think.


A great book that doesn't drive parents nuts   June 23, 2000
 25 out of 26 found this review helpful

The thing I like most about this book is it survives the perpetual-reading test, that is, neither my daughter nor I am tired of reading it after two years.

"One Fish..." is really composed of several "short" sections that can be read in any order, so for a toddler, it's perfectly fine to skip around. In fact, this is conducive to a toddler's randomness - one day it's "Hop hop hop, I am a Yop"; another day it's "From there to here."


My Daughter's Favorite Book by Dr. Seuss   August 28, 2000
 25 out of 30 found this review helpful

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish was her pick as the best of the books by Dr. Seuss.

One of the appeals of this book is that it is relatively easy to learn to read, yet has much more variety than most other early readers. So your child will feel like she or he has accomplished a lot with reading this book, which is correct.

The title gives the key to why this book works well as an early reader. One word is changed at a time, with a clear illustration next to it. Most children will read the illustrations like a rebus and later associate the words with the sounds of the name for the pictures. At some point, they begin reading from the words. Very nice!

Here's another sequence: "black fish blue fish old fish new fish."

Then, when he moves on, he uses simple rhymes: "This one has a little star. This one has a little car."

Next, he progresses to substituting "some" for "fish" and adding a single verb to make a sentence as in "Some are read . . . . Some are old."

So almost any child can soon begin to read along with few errors in the first 2 or 3 pages. Whenever the child can go no more, you can just keep going. With repetition, more of the book becomes memorized and the process continues.

There is another reward for you and your child: The book also previews many of the wonderful characters and rhyming schemes that appear in other Dr. Seuss books. As a result, it will be easier to get started reading those books. You will feel like you are seeing an old friend again.

You can also use each rhyme to take off on your own speculations. Our daughter used to love to come up with alternative rhymes that fit the pictures.

Books like this one make it great fun to be either a parent or a child. In some cases, this book will be there for you in both roles over 20 to 40 years!

Overcome your mistaken beliefs about how children can start to learn to read by seeing your child start naturally by associating the words with the pictures as you read this wonderful book to him or her!

These fish become swans   July 12, 2007
 12 out of 13 found this review helpful

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss gives young children an excellent way to start reading independently. The book helps children learn to count to eleven and it increases their vocabulary as you read it along with them the first few times. Young children just learning to read will be able to read this book as one of their first books that they can read by themselves; and the cute illustrations will delight children and even adults everywhere.

The book's plot is not entirely deep--nor should it be for this exceptionally young, tender age group. The book helps kids to learn how to count to eleven and recognize the words for those numbers; it also uses pictures to introduce words for basic colors including red, blue, black, yellow and pink. Children also explore the concepts of old and new; fast and slow; high and low; thin and fat as well as here and there. Excellent! The book also introduces the telephone and how two people can communicate by phone. Your child will love that--they'll think that the phone is a toy!

The book is nicely bound and the strength of the hardcover binding makes the book tolerate the bending and occasional carelessness of a young child who is learning to read partly by using this book. Great!

I highly recommend One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish for younger kids who are just learning to read. This book will increase their vocabulary by introducing words, comparisons and pictures. The child also gets a heightened awareness of the world around them; and the adorable illustrations will delight children everywhere.

Great job, Dr. Seuss!



My 6 Month Old Loves This Book!   November 10, 1999
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

After reading this book to my 6 month old, I'm convinced it's never too early to read to a child. She recognizes those wonder rhyming patterns and squeals in delight.