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The Little Red Fish
After falling asleep in the library, a young boy awakens to find that his little red fish has gone missing and wonders whether it has ventured into a special red book on the shelf, in the hopes of having a grand adventure of his very own.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2007
6 people are currently reading
233 people want to read
About the author
Taeeun Yoo
28 books41 followersTaeeun Yoo was born in Korea and grew up in Seoul in her grandfather's beautiful garden-house. She was raised in a large traditional family with nine members and remembers many fun stories. Growing up, she watched her great-grandmother make traditional Korean costumes, and watched her grandfather carefully observe his orchids and bonsai. Now her grandfather often appears in her illustrations.
She studied Korean brush painting at Hong Ik University in Korea, and moved to New York to attend graduate school in illustration at The School of Visual Arts. While she studied in graduate school, she was influenced by one of her teachers, Bruce Waldman, a famous etcher. She made her first children's book using etching. Her work has appeared in Cricket, Ladybug, and The New York Times. Her first picture book, The Little Red Fish will be published by Dial Books for Young Readers in 2007. She is currently working on The Umbrella Queen by Shirin Yim Bridges, to be published by Greenwillow Books, and Only a Witch Can Fly by Alison McGhee, forthcoming from Feiwel & Friends. Taeeun lives in New York City and enjoys walking on the streets, listening to street musicians, and drawing on location.
She studied Korean brush painting at Hong Ik University in Korea, and moved to New York to attend graduate school in illustration at The School of Visual Arts. While she studied in graduate school, she was influenced by one of her teachers, Bruce Waldman, a famous etcher. She made her first children's book using etching. Her work has appeared in Cricket, Ladybug, and The New York Times. Her first picture book, The Little Red Fish will be published by Dial Books for Young Readers in 2007. She is currently working on The Umbrella Queen by Shirin Yim Bridges, to be published by Greenwillow Books, and Only a Witch Can Fly by Alison McGhee, forthcoming from Feiwel & Friends. Taeeun lives in New York City and enjoys walking on the streets, listening to street musicians, and drawing on location.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
July 27, 2019
What a fantastic little book about the possibilities of ‘anything is possible in a book’ and so anything can really happen in the library. A little boy brings his red fish to the library with him as he goes to his grandfathers job, the town librarian, for the first time. Amazing and wonderful things happen. I love the imagination in this one.
The art is mostly black and white with little color sprinkled and dashed in. The red fish does stand out. Into the wilds of the library they go.
The nephew thought this was a fun book. He wondered why he never got sucked into a book like that. I told him I guess he needs an animal guide with him to do that. He considered this. He gave this 4 stars. The niece was only slightly amused by this story. She’s so ‘seen it, done it’ now. She gave this 3 stars.
The art is mostly black and white with little color sprinkled and dashed in. The red fish does stand out. Into the wilds of the library they go.
The nephew thought this was a fun book. He wondered why he never got sucked into a book like that. I told him I guess he needs an animal guide with him to do that. He considered this. He gave this 4 stars. The niece was only slightly amused by this story. She’s so ‘seen it, done it’ now. She gave this 3 stars.
October 12, 2007
This book is simply gorgeous - the cover, the texture, the illustrations, and the story are all simply spellbinding and awe inspiring. This book is the author's graduate thesis for the School of Visual Arts. I haven't read a lot of graduate thesi, but this is simply the best.
It is a dream-like tale of JeJe, a young boy who accompanies his grandfather to a library in the middle of the forest and brings his friend, the little red fish. After exploring the many corners and stacks of books in the library, JeJe falls asleep. When he wakes up, his little red fish is gone! He runs here and there looking for it, only to see his little red tail always around another corner!
With beautiful illustrations in blacks, whites, greys with beautiful splashes of red, this book is as beautiful to look at as it is to read. It is everything I love about books - the beautiful cover with a vintage feel, beautiful illustrations that add to the story, a riveting story that captures the imagination and characters that I relate to and instantly love and miss once the story is over!!!
It is a dream-like tale of JeJe, a young boy who accompanies his grandfather to a library in the middle of the forest and brings his friend, the little red fish. After exploring the many corners and stacks of books in the library, JeJe falls asleep. When he wakes up, his little red fish is gone! He runs here and there looking for it, only to see his little red tail always around another corner!
With beautiful illustrations in blacks, whites, greys with beautiful splashes of red, this book is as beautiful to look at as it is to read. It is everything I love about books - the beautiful cover with a vintage feel, beautiful illustrations that add to the story, a riveting story that captures the imagination and characters that I relate to and instantly love and miss once the story is over!!!
April 5, 2020
It's simply incredible that this magical picture-book was Taeeun Yoo's graduate thesis at the School of Visual Arts - talk about promising young students! With its simple tale of a boy, his fish, and a magical journey into the world of a book - Jeje accompanies his grandfather to his work, at the old library in the middle of the forest, bringing his little red fish with him; and, after awakening from a nap, must pursue his elusive piscine companion through the stacks, and into the pages of a dusty red book - The Little Red Fish is also a visual delight. Yoo's sepia-toned etchings, with their occasional flashes of red, reminded me a little bit of some of Edward Gorey's work, in their ability to evoke a world of mystery.
All in all, a delightful book! I was impressed with the dreamlike quality of Yoo's narrative, how (deceptively) effortless the entire project felt. Having already appreciated this artist's work in such titles as Only a Witch Can Fly and So Many Days , despite finding both narratives (written by Alison McGhee) rather lacking, I was especially pleased that this was a book I loved for both story and illustration. Hopefully Yoo will write and illustrate more tales!
All in all, a delightful book! I was impressed with the dreamlike quality of Yoo's narrative, how (deceptively) effortless the entire project felt. Having already appreciated this artist's work in such titles as Only a Witch Can Fly and So Many Days , despite finding both narratives (written by Alison McGhee) rather lacking, I was especially pleased that this was a book I loved for both story and illustration. Hopefully Yoo will write and illustrate more tales!
July 1, 2013
I loved this story. The choice of very neutral colors in the pictures with the very vibrant and contrasting little red fish stood out. The reader knows visually that the little red fish is special and as the story progresses to keep their eyes out for what happens to him. The author leads the reader with words and images. Another part of this book I really enjoyed was that several pages were left intentionally without narration. The reader is able to add their own words as they experience the images and follow the adventure. The Little Red Fish tells the story of finding adventure in books. This is one book I will be adding to my own library. The strategy of recurring detail is present in this text and it is very interesting to me because it was done with color. The color of the little red fish repeating when everything else was neutral was different than a recurring line or word but very noticeable.
April 7, 2014
I had the pleasure of reading this book, thanks to my wonderful book buddy who found it at one of the libraries she frequents (yes, more than one!). It has been published all over the world, and is such a whimsical story. Done in nearly all brown tones, except for the red fish & a couple of other things, a young boy is allowed to accompany his grandfather, a librarian, to the library for the first time. He brings his little red fish along, and is fascinated by all the books in each room. Well, some interesting things happen suddenly, and the fish disappears. The boy only sees that red tail zipping around a corner. You’ll need to find the book to see what happens. I enjoyed the imagination and the illustrations!
February 18, 2019
I don't know why you'd bring your little red fish to the library, but this is a great story about what might happen if you did. I love how all the illustrations in the book are neutral except for the fish. This is a magical little book. Alena and I have read it three times which is unusual for us. I must like it.
January 18, 2018
I'm a sucker for a book set in a library ;-)
May 28, 2015
Booklist April 15, 2007 (Vol. 103, No. 16)
Jeje brings his pet fish when he accompanies his grandfather to an old library. After exploring the dark, mysterious building, the boy falls asleep and awakens to find that the library has grown strange. After his red fish disappears from its bowl, Jeje chases flashes of red amid the gloom, and then finds a magical book that releases torrents of water and fish. He falls down into a book illustration and catches hold of a passing bird that carries him above the ocean. There he spies his fish, dives after him, and, tumbling out of the book, returns him to his bowl. Six wordless pages illustrate the boy's rescue adventure. The text here is subordinate to the dark, atmospheric etchings, tinted with shades of gray and sepia with touches of red. The book's scarlet cloth cover is as beautifully made as every other physical element of this well-designed volume. An imaginatively illustrated flight of fancy, this is the first picture book by Yoo, a Korean American artist. --Carolyn Phelan Books for Older Readers
Horn Book Guide Fall 2007
When his little red fish disappears into a library book, JeJe literally falls into the pages with it and soon finds himself clinging to a flamingo's leg. Although the books-can-transport-readers-to-other-worlds allegory isn't particularly fresh, Yoo's shadowy sepia-toned etchings conjure up a dreamy, magical setting, and her deft blurring of fantasy and reality calls to mind Van Allsburg and Wiesner.
Kirkus Reviews February 1, 2007
Amazing things can happen in libraries. JeJe's grandfather is a librarian, and one day he invites JeJe to join him at the old library in the forest where he works. JeJe brings along his friend the little red fish. For awhile, JeJe explores the rooms of books, but soon falls asleep on the floor with the fish bowl atop an open book. When JeJe awakens, the library is dark and, as he begins to read one of the books to his fish, he discovers the fish has disappeared! Searching everywhere, JeJe glimpses a red fish tail vanish into an old book. "Something magical" happens when JeJe opens the book and falls into the page in pursuit of his fish. Delicate, dusky sepia etchings capture the mysterious atmosphere of the old library, and the repetitive use of red for JeJe's fish proves an attractive lure for the eye. Was JeJe's adventure a dream or was he just lost in the pages of a book? The pictures are worth a thousand words in this fantastical tale. (Picture book. 4+)
Publishers Weekly April 9, 2007
Newcomer Yoo's sepia-toned pen-and-inks and watercolor wash, rich with shadows and spidery figures, provide a haunting obligato for her story of a boy's adventure alone in a deserted library. The cloth-covered, jacketless book and handsewn pages suggest the attention to detail and craft found within. Falling asleep among the shelves after his grandfather, the librarian, leaves the room, young JeJe wakes in the moonlight to find that his beloved red fish (which he carries about in a goldfish bowl) has disappeared. "He caught a glimpse of a little red tail flipping high over a shelf and so he followed it." Movement from one of the books on the shelf catches his eye. Inked in vermilion, the red fish and the red book stand out against the neutral background, as a series of wordless spreads follows. JeJe takes the book down, opens it, and is greeted by a fountain of fish just like his. Diving in, he travels through a wintry landscape, then sails across an ocean with a flock of flamingos in an image that recalls Japanese silkscreen landscapes. He and his fish land safely in the library just as JeJe's grandfather returns to fetch him. "He whispered to his fish that they would come back to the library very soon." Like Barbara Lehman's work, of which her fans might be reminded here, Yoo's exhilarating visual images don't really need words. They seem to call to a place beyond language, and shutting the book feels like awakening from a dream. Ages 4-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal May 1, 2007
PreS-Gr 2-From the moment readers encounter this book, they know that they've found something different. Rather than having a dust jacket, it is bound in bright red fabric, with the title and author embossed in black print and a small illustration centered on the cover. Inside, detailed hand-colored etchings match well with the quiet, mysterious story that unfolds. For the first time ever, JeJe is allowed to go to the library located deep inside the forest with his grandfather, the librarian. The boy takes his little red fish with him. He falls asleep and when he awakes, he notices that his companion has disappeared. Catching a glimpse of its tail, he follows it to an old red volume and when he opens the book, "something magical" happens. A wordless spread shows several fish spewing out of the tome. Seeing his pet still inside, JeJe reaches for it and falls into the pages. After several adventures-portrayed through illustrations only-he returns to the room with his fish in hand. He places the volume back on the shelf, hoping to visit another day. The boy's fantastical experiences will resonate with readers. The characters and setting are depicted in sepia tones; only the fish and the book are in eye-catching red. Due to its small size and the delicate nature of the artwork, this offering would work best for individual reading or one-on-one sharing.-Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Jeje brings his pet fish when he accompanies his grandfather to an old library. After exploring the dark, mysterious building, the boy falls asleep and awakens to find that the library has grown strange. After his red fish disappears from its bowl, Jeje chases flashes of red amid the gloom, and then finds a magical book that releases torrents of water and fish. He falls down into a book illustration and catches hold of a passing bird that carries him above the ocean. There he spies his fish, dives after him, and, tumbling out of the book, returns him to his bowl. Six wordless pages illustrate the boy's rescue adventure. The text here is subordinate to the dark, atmospheric etchings, tinted with shades of gray and sepia with touches of red. The book's scarlet cloth cover is as beautifully made as every other physical element of this well-designed volume. An imaginatively illustrated flight of fancy, this is the first picture book by Yoo, a Korean American artist. --Carolyn Phelan Books for Older Readers
Horn Book Guide Fall 2007
When his little red fish disappears into a library book, JeJe literally falls into the pages with it and soon finds himself clinging to a flamingo's leg. Although the books-can-transport-readers-to-other-worlds allegory isn't particularly fresh, Yoo's shadowy sepia-toned etchings conjure up a dreamy, magical setting, and her deft blurring of fantasy and reality calls to mind Van Allsburg and Wiesner.
Kirkus Reviews February 1, 2007
Amazing things can happen in libraries. JeJe's grandfather is a librarian, and one day he invites JeJe to join him at the old library in the forest where he works. JeJe brings along his friend the little red fish. For awhile, JeJe explores the rooms of books, but soon falls asleep on the floor with the fish bowl atop an open book. When JeJe awakens, the library is dark and, as he begins to read one of the books to his fish, he discovers the fish has disappeared! Searching everywhere, JeJe glimpses a red fish tail vanish into an old book. "Something magical" happens when JeJe opens the book and falls into the page in pursuit of his fish. Delicate, dusky sepia etchings capture the mysterious atmosphere of the old library, and the repetitive use of red for JeJe's fish proves an attractive lure for the eye. Was JeJe's adventure a dream or was he just lost in the pages of a book? The pictures are worth a thousand words in this fantastical tale. (Picture book. 4+)
Publishers Weekly April 9, 2007
Newcomer Yoo's sepia-toned pen-and-inks and watercolor wash, rich with shadows and spidery figures, provide a haunting obligato for her story of a boy's adventure alone in a deserted library. The cloth-covered, jacketless book and handsewn pages suggest the attention to detail and craft found within. Falling asleep among the shelves after his grandfather, the librarian, leaves the room, young JeJe wakes in the moonlight to find that his beloved red fish (which he carries about in a goldfish bowl) has disappeared. "He caught a glimpse of a little red tail flipping high over a shelf and so he followed it." Movement from one of the books on the shelf catches his eye. Inked in vermilion, the red fish and the red book stand out against the neutral background, as a series of wordless spreads follows. JeJe takes the book down, opens it, and is greeted by a fountain of fish just like his. Diving in, he travels through a wintry landscape, then sails across an ocean with a flock of flamingos in an image that recalls Japanese silkscreen landscapes. He and his fish land safely in the library just as JeJe's grandfather returns to fetch him. "He whispered to his fish that they would come back to the library very soon." Like Barbara Lehman's work, of which her fans might be reminded here, Yoo's exhilarating visual images don't really need words. They seem to call to a place beyond language, and shutting the book feels like awakening from a dream. Ages 4-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal May 1, 2007
PreS-Gr 2-From the moment readers encounter this book, they know that they've found something different. Rather than having a dust jacket, it is bound in bright red fabric, with the title and author embossed in black print and a small illustration centered on the cover. Inside, detailed hand-colored etchings match well with the quiet, mysterious story that unfolds. For the first time ever, JeJe is allowed to go to the library located deep inside the forest with his grandfather, the librarian. The boy takes his little red fish with him. He falls asleep and when he awakes, he notices that his companion has disappeared. Catching a glimpse of its tail, he follows it to an old red volume and when he opens the book, "something magical" happens. A wordless spread shows several fish spewing out of the tome. Seeing his pet still inside, JeJe reaches for it and falls into the pages. After several adventures-portrayed through illustrations only-he returns to the room with his fish in hand. He places the volume back on the shelf, hoping to visit another day. The boy's fantastical experiences will resonate with readers. The characters and setting are depicted in sepia tones; only the fish and the book are in eye-catching red. Due to its small size and the delicate nature of the artwork, this offering would work best for individual reading or one-on-one sharing.-Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2022
The use of metafiction devices in this book is wonderful. All of the pictures are in black and white, the background being more detailed and shaded, while the main characters are a little brighter. The fish is the only part in color, so it draws the attention of the students. Each page has a different format as well. Some pages are filled with the artwork, while others are smaller and risen above the text.
library-priority
August 2, 2024for Kathryn, August 2024
January 3, 2025
The book aims to show the joy of immersing in fictional worlds.
Nice idea but ummm, donno didn't excite me so much. Unnecessary details maybe?
Nice idea but ummm, donno didn't excite me so much. Unnecessary details maybe?
January 29, 2022
This was one of three books I recently read. I thought picture books would be a fun change since I hadn't read those since I was a kid. This was full of postmodernism. One of the main things was the little dialogue, so you really were creating your own story. The overall plot was interesting and it was a fun read.
November 17, 2019
From the author's bio: Taeeun Yoo earned her master's degree from the School of Visual Arts, where she created The Little Red Fish for her graduate thesis. This is totally an art school project. An Alice-in-Wonderland-type story where a boy visits an old library in the middle of a forest and his pet fish disappears into a book. The book looks and feels like an old classic children's fantasy.
November 30, 2010
4th- 5th
JeJe a young boy loves to read to his little red fish. One day while reading to his fish he notices his fish disappear. JeJe thinks his fish is with in on of his books. But can a fish jump in to a book? JeJe wonders. This is where his adventure begins. The wonderful illustrations bring this story to life. Taeeun Yoo does a good job matching the story to its illustrations. The middle of his book is left with no words. The adventure is only told through pictures.
Story making. This would be good book to have students fill in the middle of the story. With the book already having the beginning and end of the story the student will know where to start and end. The students will use picture cues to help develop their story.
JeJe a young boy loves to read to his little red fish. One day while reading to his fish he notices his fish disappear. JeJe thinks his fish is with in on of his books. But can a fish jump in to a book? JeJe wonders. This is where his adventure begins. The wonderful illustrations bring this story to life. Taeeun Yoo does a good job matching the story to its illustrations. The middle of his book is left with no words. The adventure is only told through pictures.
Story making. This would be good book to have students fill in the middle of the story. With the book already having the beginning and end of the story the student will know where to start and end. The students will use picture cues to help develop their story.
August 21, 2008
Mostly sepia toned drawings accented by the red of the fish with a red cloth cover, this book is a visual treat. Minimal on the text, leaving room for parents to fill in some of the narrative, the book follows JeJe as he visits his grandfather's library with his little red fish and falls asleep. A waking dream follows where his fish disapears into one of the books on the shelves. JeJe also ends up in the book and then back in the library with his fish. This is a microcosmic "Alice in Wonderland" with very little rhyme or reason, even flamingos find their way onto the dreamland page. A wonderful, dreamy, little adventure.
January 13, 2013
This is a seemingly simple story of wonder and imagination, illustrated with beautiful sepia-toned sketches and gorgeously contrasted light and shadow.
A little boy visits the library where his grandfather works and, left to his own devices, explores the stacks, becomes absorbed in some books, and gets carried away by fantasy. As a librarian-in-training, and someone who values greatly the escape offered by a good read, I fell a little bit in love with this picture book.
The story is spare, allowing young readers to unleash their own creative minds to fill up the space, and the pictures are worth long moments of study.
A little boy visits the library where his grandfather works and, left to his own devices, explores the stacks, becomes absorbed in some books, and gets carried away by fantasy. As a librarian-in-training, and someone who values greatly the escape offered by a good read, I fell a little bit in love with this picture book.
The story is spare, allowing young readers to unleash their own creative minds to fill up the space, and the pictures are worth long moments of study.
Read
May 28, 2007This picture book is exquisite. I picked it up at Skylight on Vermont last weekend, and could not be more thrilled with it. The story and illustrations are absolutely original. I wish I had a niece or something.
October 17, 2007
The Little Red Fish features six pages of atmospheric etchings without words to detail the rescue of the title character. Children enjoy figuring out what is happening in the story without text to guide them. And it looks really cool too.
December 9, 2007
Enchanting. Jele takes his friend the little red fish to the library in the forest. He naps briefly, and when he awakens, the bowl is there but the fish is gone. He thinks he sees a flash of red flicking over a high shelf.... Lyrical pen/ink/monochrome watercolor illustrations.
March 20, 2008
I grabbed this book from the library just because I loved the look of the cover. I didn't even look inside until I got home and I immediately fell in love with the illustrations. Another good example of how you can't go wrong with simplicity in a children's book.
October 9, 2008
This book has a gentleness and quietness about it. The boy and his fish literally dive into a good book and have a grand adventure, though the silence hush of Grandfather's library is never disturbed. Taeeun Yoo is a talent to keep watching.
February 16, 2012
The little red fish is a book about a boy called Jeje who goes to his grandfathers library and find a book that his fish has jumped in to. It is a strange book but the ilistrations are realy nice it is all black and white apart from the fish and the red book.It is worth reading.
June 5, 2015
A lovely, sweet book with wonderful illustrations. I am sad to find it is unavailable to purchase new. If only I could be so amoral as to keep the public library's copy I would own it for myself...but I would never!
February 12, 2016
What's not to love about this little red book, it's small size to the beautiful red linen cover to the magical illustrations? The illustrations are magical and the story is great. It is about a little boy who visits the library and literally gets lost in a book. Imagine that!
January 7, 2017
This is a beautifully illustrated read about losing yourself in the best place in the world: the library! A young boy and his fish find they have stepped (or swam) into another world when they open a book.
December 4, 2012
I enjoyed the wordless interlude when he fell into the book
February 25, 2013
Oh the library love and the mixed up feelings of real and unreal as one travels literally, and not, through pages of a book. Stunning!
October 17, 2016
I can't get over the main character's companion choice. Now, if this character decided to bring his house cat to the nearby park, that would make sense. But this, well...
January 27, 2018
Etching style illustrations show a little girl finding pleasure in a library
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews