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Louis the Fish
Maurice Sendak greeted the publication of the first book by this unique author-and-artist team with an astonishing review in The New York Times Book Review , which " Sid and Sol is a wonder--a picture book that heralds a hopeful, healthy flicker of life in what is becoming a creatively exhausted genre. The magic rests in teh seamless bond of Arthur Yorinks's and Richard Egielski's deft and exciting collaboration." Sendak concluded his review with an enthusiastic "Welcom, Mr. Yorinks and Mr. Egielski!" Now Louis the Fish , their second picture book, not only fulfills the promise of the first, but amply surpasses it.
Louis is a butcher. He has a nice shop on Flatbush, with steady customers. He's "always friendly, always helpful, a wonderful guy." But Louis is not happy. He hates meat!
All his life he's been surrounded by meat. His grandfather was a butcher. His father was a butcher. His whole childhood, even his birthdays, revolved aournd meat. As a boy he tried anythign to escape--even a job after school cleaning fishtanks.
But that doesn't last long. Louis soon has to take over his parents' butcher shop. He grows ill. Business begins to fail. All seems lost. Until on night, in fitful sleep, after uneasy dreams, Louis is changed in a profound and startling way and begins a happy new life.
Louis is a butcher. He has a nice shop on Flatbush, with steady customers. He's "always friendly, always helpful, a wonderful guy." But Louis is not happy. He hates meat!
All his life he's been surrounded by meat. His grandfather was a butcher. His father was a butcher. His whole childhood, even his birthdays, revolved aournd meat. As a boy he tried anythign to escape--even a job after school cleaning fishtanks.
But that doesn't last long. Louis soon has to take over his parents' butcher shop. He grows ill. Business begins to fail. All seems lost. Until on night, in fitful sleep, after uneasy dreams, Louis is changed in a profound and startling way and begins a happy new life.
32 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1980
24 people are currently reading
662 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Yorinks
79 books29 followersArthur Yorinks is a playwright, director, and author of more than thirty-five picture books for children, including the Caldecott Medal–winning Hey, Al, illustrated by Richard Egielski. His most recent picture book is Presto and Zesto in Limboland, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Arthur Yorinks lives in Cambridge, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
May 20, 2020
who's here bcs larry 😌
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January 20, 2021PARALLELS TO HARRY STYLES' ADORE YOU MUSIC VIDEO????
August 26, 2020
we all know larry is real...
April 16, 2024
Well, as an adult reader with a PhD in German literature, I do really and massively appreciate and have also rather perversely enjoyed how the first words and sentences emanating from Arthur Yorinks’ pen in his 1980 and prominently featured on the Reading Rainbow television show picture book Louis the Fish read very much like the beginning of Franz Kafka’s 1915 novella Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) and indeed to such an extent that I do in fact consider this as likely being something deliberate (not an act of unacceptable plagiarism on Yorinks’ part, of course, but instead a very much deliberate and heartfelt homage to Kafka).
However, and my adult appreciation of the kafkaesque premise for Louis the Fish notwithstanding, my inner child does unfortunately find both Arthur Yorinks’ text and even more so Richard Egielski’s accompanying artwork as not really being all that appealing, as not really being to either my verbal or my visual tastes and as such pretty strange and in fact often even horridly creepy (certainly not all that child-friendly in my humble opinion). And just to also point out that if I had actually tried to read Franz Kafka and in particular Die Verwandlung as a child, as a younger reader, I more than likely would have found Gregor Samsa being turned into large bug, into a cockroach like insect in every way as weird and as freaking me out as my inner child is reacting negatively and with trepidation towards Louis being turned into a large salmon overnight in Louis the Fish.
But truthfully, even my adult reading self is finding Louis the Fish a trifle overly strange and with in particular the illustrations being hugely and creepily in my face so to speak and as such visually exaggerating Arthur Yorinks’ featured story ad absurdum, with especially Richard Egielski’s visual depictions of the nightmares Louis has of getting attacked by meat just both not working for me and equally making me feel disgusted and almost aesthetically attacked (and that I would definitely be much more able to stomach and handle what Yorinks is textually providing in Louis the Fish without any artwork at all, and yes, just like I cannot really handle and tend to despise graphic novel renditions of Franz Kafka’s Die Verwandlung as well, that creepy and/or potentially creepy stories only tend to agree with me if they are unillustrated).
And just to say as a final word (and probably the main reason why my rating for Louis the Fish is only two and not three stars), well, I simply cannot and will not accept Arthur Yorinks’ ending for Louis being something positive and something acceptably optimistic, so that how Yorinks has Louis not only get turned into a large salmon but that Louis the Fish ends with Louis alone and seemingly happy living as a salmon in a fishbowl that is clearly much too small and too restrictive of movement for a salmon, for any large fish, this definitely makes both my adult reading self and even more so my inner child livid and also in angry agreement with each other that there is nothing really all that fish-friendly regarding how Louis the Fish concludes (and for me, Louis the Fish should thus end either with Louis in a very large aquarium where he has sufficient room to swim or even better in a lake or a river with other salmon, that the small fish tank for Louis is both ridiculous and even pretty hugely horrible).
However, and my adult appreciation of the kafkaesque premise for Louis the Fish notwithstanding, my inner child does unfortunately find both Arthur Yorinks’ text and even more so Richard Egielski’s accompanying artwork as not really being all that appealing, as not really being to either my verbal or my visual tastes and as such pretty strange and in fact often even horridly creepy (certainly not all that child-friendly in my humble opinion). And just to also point out that if I had actually tried to read Franz Kafka and in particular Die Verwandlung as a child, as a younger reader, I more than likely would have found Gregor Samsa being turned into large bug, into a cockroach like insect in every way as weird and as freaking me out as my inner child is reacting negatively and with trepidation towards Louis being turned into a large salmon overnight in Louis the Fish.
But truthfully, even my adult reading self is finding Louis the Fish a trifle overly strange and with in particular the illustrations being hugely and creepily in my face so to speak and as such visually exaggerating Arthur Yorinks’ featured story ad absurdum, with especially Richard Egielski’s visual depictions of the nightmares Louis has of getting attacked by meat just both not working for me and equally making me feel disgusted and almost aesthetically attacked (and that I would definitely be much more able to stomach and handle what Yorinks is textually providing in Louis the Fish without any artwork at all, and yes, just like I cannot really handle and tend to despise graphic novel renditions of Franz Kafka’s Die Verwandlung as well, that creepy and/or potentially creepy stories only tend to agree with me if they are unillustrated).
And just to say as a final word (and probably the main reason why my rating for Louis the Fish is only two and not three stars), well, I simply cannot and will not accept Arthur Yorinks’ ending for Louis being something positive and something acceptably optimistic, so that how Yorinks has Louis not only get turned into a large salmon but that Louis the Fish ends with Louis alone and seemingly happy living as a salmon in a fishbowl that is clearly much too small and too restrictive of movement for a salmon, for any large fish, this definitely makes both my adult reading self and even more so my inner child livid and also in angry agreement with each other that there is nothing really all that fish-friendly regarding how Louis the Fish concludes (and for me, Louis the Fish should thus end either with Louis in a very large aquarium where he has sufficient room to swim or even better in a lake or a river with other salmon, that the small fish tank for Louis is both ridiculous and even pretty hugely horrible).
April 5, 2020
"One day last spring," begins this delightfully surreal picture-book from Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski - the author/illustrator team also responsible for the Caldecott Medal-winning
Hey, Al
- "Louis, a butcher, turned into a fish. Silvery scales. Big lips. A tail. A salmon." This Kafkaesque opening is quickly followed by a flashback to Louis' youth, offering an explanation of how a man who hated meat (but loved fish) became a butcher (answer: family tradition). Louis' growing unhappiness begins to manifest itself in both his waking and sleeping life, as he begins to imagine that his customers are fish, and dreams that assorted meat products are chasing him down and beating him. It's only a matter of time before he wakes up, ala the opening of the book, in piscine form...
OK, this book just cracked me up! A man wakes up as a fish! He has a dream in which steak, sausages, pork chops and meatballs chase him down, and beat him with bats! He rides the subway (as a fish!), and ends up living happily in a fishbowl! It's an interpretive bonanza here folks - one that should appeal to everyone from the vegetarian/vegan crew to the psychoanalytic crowd (when is a steak just a steak?). Haha! I can't even write this review with a straight face (or refrain from abusing exclamation points)! The text may be surreal, but it also works, as a story, and the artwork is just fabulous! Best of all, the two work seamlessly together! If you appreciate the bizarre, have an offbeat sense of humor, or just like unusual picture-books, track down a copy of Louis the Fish - it's a real blast!
OK, this book just cracked me up! A man wakes up as a fish! He has a dream in which steak, sausages, pork chops and meatballs chase him down, and beat him with bats! He rides the subway (as a fish!), and ends up living happily in a fishbowl! It's an interpretive bonanza here folks - one that should appeal to everyone from the vegetarian/vegan crew to the psychoanalytic crowd (when is a steak just a steak?). Haha! I can't even write this review with a straight face (or refrain from abusing exclamation points)! The text may be surreal, but it also works, as a story, and the artwork is just fabulous! Best of all, the two work seamlessly together! If you appreciate the bizarre, have an offbeat sense of humor, or just like unusual picture-books, track down a copy of Louis the Fish - it's a real blast!
March 19, 2024
The closest work the team has done to the brilliant Hey, Al... but still not very close. Basically that seems like it might have been a 'one-hit-wonder' thing. But there are more books by the team archived on openlibrary.org, so I'll be taking a look.
June 15, 2025
Louis is a simple man who works as a butcher, just like his dad did, and his grandfather did. But he dreams about being a fish. He likes fish. He watches the fish in the aquarium and draws them when he has the chance. And one day he turns into a fish.
This is a pretty simple story. It is geared for kids ages 5 through 8. It reminded me of Kafka's Metamorphosis except there is no cockroach here, only a giant salmon. This is a really short story and I thought it ended pretty abruptly, which is why I am giving it four stars.
This is a pretty simple story. It is geared for kids ages 5 through 8. It reminded me of Kafka's Metamorphosis except there is no cockroach here, only a giant salmon. This is a really short story and I thought it ended pretty abruptly, which is why I am giving it four stars.
July 29, 2021
oh harry, oh harry.
JHADSDJASD WN LO LEI EN 28 AAAA.
JHADSDJASD WN LO LEI EN 28 AAAA.
October 19, 2020
Though I liked Richard Egielski's artwork, I found the story of a man who finds himself transformed to be a bit predictable . . . though it's a nice lesson in feeling comfortable within one's own skin scales.
August 13, 2016
I didn't care for the ending in which . Not sure what Yorinks meant by this. Couldn't Louis just sell the butcher shop and go do something else, like work at an aquarium?
June 8, 2016
Louis can't stand meat and hates working at his father's butcher shop. He receives meats for birthday gifts and has dreams about hamburgers punching him. I know it's ridiculous but I couldn't help myself; I laughed over and over.
July 24, 2017
Easily one of the best books ever written. Definitely the best final sentence in the history of books. Loved reading it to my sons when they were boys...just read it to the 3rd grade class of a great-nephew of ours.
August 7, 2011
creepy and weird for me as a kid to think about strange men living alone in nyc apartments turning into fish
May 3, 2017
I was not impressed with this book, especially it being advertised as a Reading Rainbow book. I felt a though it was a watered down plain version of the Incredible Mr Limpet, which was interesting.
March 3, 2023
People who know will get it
October 10, 2018
Louis owned the butcher shop just like his father did. However, Louis didn't love the butcher shop as his father did. In fact, he hated being a butcher and hated meat. He did however love fish. He end up thinking about fish so much that he turned into one. What is a fish supposed to do in butcher shop?
I thought the book was cute but I wasn't too impressed with it. I did like that Louis turned into a fish because he loved them so much. It helped him become happy and enjoy life after not being happy for so long. I did like the color scheme used in the book. They made the book have a cozy feel and they were pretty. I loved that even when he was a fish he acted like a human and was found in public and was riding the bus.
This book could show kids the importance of doing what they want to do in life and following their dreams. If you do what others want you to do than you might end up unhappy or missing out on something amazing. It could also be a teaching tool to show kids that its ok to like different things than your family does. It doesn't mean anything bad if you do have different interests than your family does. It could even be related to students liking different things than their friends do. You can have different interests than other people do and still be friends with them.
I thought the book was cute but I wasn't too impressed with it. I did like that Louis turned into a fish because he loved them so much. It helped him become happy and enjoy life after not being happy for so long. I did like the color scheme used in the book. They made the book have a cozy feel and they were pretty. I loved that even when he was a fish he acted like a human and was found in public and was riding the bus.
This book could show kids the importance of doing what they want to do in life and following their dreams. If you do what others want you to do than you might end up unhappy or missing out on something amazing. It could also be a teaching tool to show kids that its ok to like different things than your family does. It doesn't mean anything bad if you do have different interests than your family does. It could even be related to students liking different things than their friends do. You can have different interests than other people do and still be friends with them.
February 25, 2025
Me gustó, es súper peculiar, me sorprende un poco que es historia para niñes, tal vez porque es europea jajaj todo lo de el pez y que se quede convertido, pero enseñarle a los niñes a ser tú para ser feliz me encantaaa. Also leí este libro por Harry y terminando fui a ver el video de Adore you en pleno 2025, la parte de “I get so lost inside your eyes” tomó un nuevo significado al recordar como Louis en el libro se perdía viendo a los peces. Siento que es una re imaginación desde el punto de vista donde Harry deja a Louis the fish ser él mismo y el “just let me adore you” se demuestra cuando lo deja libre, ya que en el libro la familia de Louis murieron si saber o dejar que fuera lo que es.
September 24, 2021
A unique, surreal, and funny story. I liked that Louis was a butcher who hated his job and meat in general, yet he was forced into the gig and inherited a butcher shop thanks to an overbearing family's tradition.
What Louis did love, and want to spend all of his time with, were fish--and not on his plate! Louis was captivated by LIVING fish swimming in an aquarium and wished to spend all of his time caring for them and drawing them. In fact, Louis loved fish so much that one day he turned into one--and could finally swim away from his hated butcher shop and be happy at last.
What Louis did love, and want to spend all of his time with, were fish--and not on his plate! Louis was captivated by LIVING fish swimming in an aquarium and wished to spend all of his time caring for them and drawing them. In fact, Louis loved fish so much that one day he turned into one--and could finally swim away from his hated butcher shop and be happy at last.
February 11, 2021
What an odd book. Louis wakes up as a human sized fish on page one and then we go back and watch his life up until that point where he grew up to be an unhappy butcher who secretly loves fish. Is the ending happy, I don't know, but it is memorable.
December 4, 2018
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. At all. It's...odd. I will certainly be thinking about it, though.
April 10, 2020
We've had this book in the family since I was a baby, and I found it and read through it again today. It's cute. The illustrations are nice.
October 29, 2021
es muy bueno este libro ademas de que se inspiraron en una cancion con este libro me encanta
April 30, 2022
Possibly the strangest thing I've ever read
July 2, 2022
My girls thought this a silly story. My husband & I were not impressed.
July 1, 2023
Weird in a good way. Here because of the adore you music video/Larry lol.
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November 15, 2023Weird story. I could see young boys thinking it is great. Man who is butcher getting chased by hot dogs and salami, and then turns into a fish.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2010
Louis is the son of butcher shop owners who cannot stand the sight of meat. When his parents pass away, he takes over the business. Surrounded by meat, Louis develops a love for fish. Surrealistic illustrations paint a dreadful nightmare of meat chasing monsters, and then Louis magically awakes as a fish-- a salmon to be exact. Great book for stimulating a child's creativity and imagination.
February 25, 2008
Some kids that I used to babysit when I was younder loved this book. The story was o.k. but I like to illustration much better than the story. It might be that I had to read it everytime I went over to babysit.
December 14, 2012
The Reading Rainbow seal drew my eye but honestly, Juni (4) and I were kind of bewildered, underwhelmed. Illustrations were nice, but the message and ending of the story were so far outside of our own desires and experiences.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews