Fish and Flamingo

by Nancy White Carlstrom, Lisa Desimini (Illustrator)

When the time comes for Flamingo to fly to a new home, he must part from his new friend, Fish, but not before leaving him an unexpected gift--and receiving one in return.

Genres: Picture Books

1 pages, Library Binding

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

Nancy White Carlstrom has written more than 50 books for children, including the Jesse Bear series with illustrator Bruce Degan.

Born the daughter of steel mill worker William J. and Eva (Lawrence) White, Nancy White Carlstrom was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on August 4, 1948. She practiced writing poetry, enjoyed reading books like Little Women, and wanted to become a children’s book author at an early age. Carlstrom worked in the children’s department of her local library in Washington during her high school years. She graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, majoring in Elementary Education and earning her B.A. in 1970, also studying at Harvard Extension School and Radcliffe from 1974 to 1976. In September of 1974, she married David R. Carlstrom, later a pilot and a marketing director at Fairbanks International Airport. They had two children—Jesse and Joshua.

She draws inspiration from her 18 years living in Alaska, volunteer experiences in Africa and Haiti, and raising her two sons.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book shares vibrant artwork and a pleasant story but probably not engaging enough to check out from the library a second time.

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork is pretty but the story is middling at best.

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely charming picture book about the unlikely friendship between a fish and a flamingo. The theme and some of the words are very mature, but it is presented in a very simple fashion, so it is accessible to preschoolers, although they may not pick up on the subtleties of the "gifts" the friends give each other (the gifts are stars reflected in the ocean and sunrise over the water - it has a rather melancholy ending, each friend treasures the gift they received, but each does not know that the other received the gift).

[Haizelbear · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of two unlikely friends, a flamingo and a fish. They help one another out when one of them is caught in sticky a situation. When flamingo has to migrate and say goodbye to fish, both friends give each other a gift they had been trying to figure out how to give, without even realizing it. The illustrations were created with oil on Bristol paper. I could use this book to teach about how people can be friends, even if other people that are similar to them in many ways wouldn't normally be friends.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 PAGE!!! It's a whole book! This is a marvelous story of a friendship between a flamingo and a fish. It's an older book, but so worth looking for! Kids and adults will enjoy it. Illustrations are beautiful. Lovely book!