Ugly fish is an excellent, if totally amoral, picture book. Ugly fish starts off as king of his tank, and every time a new fishy little friend joins him, he shows off his lovely abode before eating the unfortunate tankmate. Well, once all the friends are eaten, Ugly Fish comes to realize that he is lonely. Perhaps eating all those other fish was a poor idea. Think you smell a moral? Yes, so did I. I could not have been more mistaken.
Ugly Fish is pleased when a new tankmate, Shiny Fish, joins him. He proudly shows off his tank to the much larger Shiny Fish, who likes the tank just fine, thanks, and polishes off Ugly fish in short order. The end.
What, you say? What about character development, learning from mistakes? Couldn't Ugly Fish have found a non-violent solution, and seen the error of his ways? What will this book teach our children? The answer, my friends, is absolutely nothing. They will learn not to make mistakes at all, and go to bed haunted by nightmares of Shiny Fish eating them up because they were mean to the kid sitting next to them in kindergarten. You, however, will be howling with laughter on the floor, which is a very good reason to read this picturebook.
1 comment:
If I taught Moral Philosophy, I would use this book on the final exam.
There's no Irrational Fish picture books, are there? And if not, I think Logical Fallacy Fish Books would be an excellent way to get kids started on rational thought.
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