Books like Rainbow Fish to the Rescue!

This wonderfully illustrated picture book follows on from the original story of Rainbow Fish, a beautiful but vain fish who learns to share his sparkly scales in order to make friends. The story opens with Rainbow fish playing tag with his friends by tapping each other on the shiny scale that he gave to each of them. When a small stripy fish timidly asks if he can join in, Rainbow fish watches silently as his friends say no because he doesn't have a sparkly scale like them. Although he feels guilty he is scared to speak out against his friends in case he becomes ostracised from the group. However, when a shark stalks the reef and Stripy fish's life is in danger, Rainbow fish finds himself having to choose between what he believes is right and what the other fish want him to do. The story is a good analogy for a common playground scenario and a brilliant way of teaching young children how to empathise with others and think about how our actions can make others feel. The story also emphasised to the children the importance of making sure that everyone is included, no matter how different they are from you. The year 1 class I was working with used the book across the curriculum and for circle time, where the pupils enjoyed describing what both Rainbow fish and Stripy fish were feeling and advising the characters on how to deal with the situation. This is a fantastic, well structured book, and is thoroughly recommended for Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1.