Ugly Fish by Kara Lareau and Scott Magoon

April 17th, 2007

Ugly Fish is big, ugly and mean AND he swims in a tank all by himself, he loves his life all alone…

That is until one day another fish joins him in the tank all happy and glee, so Ugly Fish does what Ugly Fish likes and chases the new fish around and gobbles it up. “There’s only enough room in this tank for one fish” says Ugly Fish. Soon after another fish arrives and says hello, and is eaten by Ugly Fish who is mean and wants to have the tank all to himself.

After a while of eating new fish Ugly Fish gets lonely and wishes for a playmate, and this is when a new and much larger fish arrives in the tank….

A nicely illustrated, humorous and amusing children’s book about bullying, being bullied and what happens if we chase all our friends away. The book also lends itself to conversations about “the golden rule” and wonderings about what would have happened if Ugly Fish had all the smaller fish around when Shiny Fish was introduced to the tank.

Of course, one could also use it as a conversation about how to care for fish…

Ugly Fish
By Kara Lareau and Scott Magoon
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books
ISBN: 978-1-74169-003-3 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-1-74169-004-0 (paperback)
Purchase at Amazon: Ugly Fish