A Good Fish Dinner

by Barbara K. Walker, Art Cumings (Illustrator)

A fox steals a fine dinner from a fish-seller, but a wolf, following his example, is not so lucky.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cartoony illustrations (complete with those spinning legs) drag this down.

[Edward Sojuwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the kinda story I used to watch on TV, with those old school animal characters in Hanna Barbera cartoons running with feet in circular motions, chasing littler creatures and doing crazy stuff. A fox plays dead in front of the cart of a fish seller. The fish seller decides to brush off the bugs from Foxy's fur coat and dumps him into the cart, where Foxy, being foxy, snitches three fishes and hurries off with a PING and a puff of dust, just like Hokey Wolf or Yogi Bear making off with the pic-a-nic basket. Too bad Foxy's nearest competition, the Good ol Wolf, dares to beat Fox at his game by doing the exact same thing with the fish cart, only when he does he gets carried away and grabs more fishies than Foxy, which, wolfies being more naturally hungry than foxes, is kinda easy....and in the end, kinda tragic since it does end with the death of the Wolfie. I'm kinda sad about that.
Three stars
What a BIG SAD WOLF!!!

[Gabi Bunten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a fox that steals fish from a fish seller by playing dead and eating the fish when the man put him back in the cart. After the fox feasts on the fish he meets a wolf that is interested and hungry for some fish. Then he does the exact same thing as the fox by playing dead and having the fishman throw him in the back of the cart. However, this time the wolf is caught stealing and eating the fish so the fish seller kills the wolf. The characters include a wolf and a fox that are very greedy and steal. The text and illustrations are symmetrical because they two are identical and say the exact same thing. The pictures visually show what the words on each page are saying. I like that this book teaches young readers about why honesty is important and greed comes with consequences. I could use this book in the classroom when teaching students about nouns and verbs. I can have students actively listen for the verbs that are listed on each page.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mom recently cleaned out the house and found a bunch of books from when we were little. Of course she gave them all to me. They certainly bring back memories of reading them over and over and over again. 30 years later and I still remember these stories. The books themselves may be a little worse for wear but the stories are still wonderful.

Fox is clever, wolf is greedy. Good lesson about only taking what you need and a really fun story.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a cute story that reminded me of the Aesop fables in a way.

I liked the illustrations since at times they were cartoony and then at other times they were almost cartoon realistic if you were. The story was simple and easy to follow along with. A great book for children so I will be passing this on to my niece.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interest Level Grades K - 2
Genre: Fiction
Themes: Character, Animals, Creativity
Uses: Casual reading for comprehension

[Don Gubler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greed does what?

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book about taking what you want and then being greedy.

I story and a lesson all rolled into one!