Books to Engage Your Child: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

About the Story

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish contains very little plot. Instead, it describes a magical array of actual animals and fabricated creatures who do many silly and unusual things. While the real animals include fish, birds and sheep, the invented creatures include a Gox, a Zans and a Nook. The story is loosely tied together by a boy and girl who jointly narrate the story. The animals are their friends and, in some cases, their pets.

Ways to Engage Your Child

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is a picture book that's well-suited to interacting with your child. First, the book is an excellent choice for beginning readers. As your child is developing reading skills, books with short, clear sentences that mirror the pictures on the page facilitate the reading process. Additionally, the words in the story are predominantly monosyllabic and often repetitive; this will help your child feel the pride of accomplishment associated with reading a book of well over 50 pages, which is long for beginning readers.

Second, your child is sure to enjoy the heavy use of rhyming words in One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. The rhymes bring a musical quality to the story that makes reading aloud fun. While Dr. Seuss is known for his use of rhymes, this story is notable for being particularly rhyme-heavy. For example, one page reads, 'Mr. Gump has a seven hump Wump. So… if you like to go Bump! Bump! just jump on the hump of the Wump of Gump.'

Finally, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish contains the evocative and whimsical artwork for which Dr. Seuss is widely known. The pictures invite close study, an activity especially appropriate for very young children. You can ask your child about the creatures or scenes portrayed in the pictures prior to reading the text. After reading the book several times, your child may be able to recall the creatures' names or some of the rhymes simply by analyzing the pictures.

Further Skills Development

If your child enjoys learning reading skills or studying the elaborate artwork in One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, there are many other Dr. Seuss books that he or she may likewise enjoy. These include Hop on Pop, The Sneetches and Other Stories, and Fox in Socks. Each of these stories also contains dense use of rhymes that are sure to entertain and engage your child.