From this magically right beginning came the concept of Beginner Books, exacting blends of words and pictures that encourage children to read – all by themselves.  Hailed by elementary educators and remedial reading specialists, these enormously popular books are now used in schools and libraries throughout the English-speaking world.

Mary’s review: This is a wonderfully written story about a young boy who buys a small gold fish from Mr. Carp who warns him about feeding Otto the fish too much.  “Just this much”, he says, “and no more” as he holds his fingers in a small pinch.  “Never more than a spot, or something may happen.  You never know what“.

The little boy doesn’t listen and feeds Otto his fish more than he should and quickly learns the consequences of not listening.  He calls on many people to help him out of the predicament he has gotten himself into.

It reminds me of how we get ourselves into situations by not paying attention and then having to take accountability for our own actions.  It is a simple concept in learning to listen, obey and choose –  that choices we make do result in consequences but that we don’t have to be afraid to ask for help when we need it.
After I read this to my 3 and 5 year old granddaughters, they each read it back to me in their own way as I had read to them separately.  They basically came up with the same concept, but at different age levels.


They loved the illustrations and the colors.  The 5 year old even colored in the black and white portions of the illustrations to suit her.


This is a great little book and I recommend it for children ages 3-9, although I feel it wouldn’t hurt for anyone to read it at least once. 

Bobby and His Airplane (The Little Golden Library)

Add A Fish Out of Water to your Goodreads shelf or visit the publisher’s website.