Swimmy

Lionni, L. (1963). Swimmy. N.p.: Random House Inc.

Swimmy is an excellent read. Swimmy is about a little black fish who escapes the bite of the giant tuna when all the other little fish get gobbled up. Swimmy explores the ocean depth until he meets another school of red fish who want to play but they can't because they are afraid they will be eaten. Since Swimmy knows it's not good for fish to be trapped, he thinks of an idea. They will all go together and look like one giant fish, and Swimmy will be the eye. When the tuna saw them, the tuna was afraid because it looked like a scary, giant fish and swam away. Success! 

Swimmy teaches so many principles in such a short read. The biggest concepts I could see that could be used for a teachable moment was the principle of togetherness and creative solutions. Swimmy had to think and think (a principle we try to teach in schools) and then he finally thought of an excellent idea and it involved participation by everyone (another idea we teach in school). The togetherness factor allowed them to defeat the problem that was bothering them. It's such a teachable moment. 

The illustrations were bright and vivid. The stark contrast between the red and the black fish allowed the reader to understand the different viewpoints between the fish. The creative design of all the red fish together and the black eye reinforced the concept of unity and together. Together, they are one even though they are different separately. The underwater scenes matched the descriptions of the words perfectly and allowed the reader to emphasize greatly with Swimmy and his friends. 

In the classroom, I would have students write down all of the adjectives used in the book. Leo Lionni uses so many great describing adjectives. Once they have the list of adjectives, I would have them work in pairs to create a short tail of their own using the adjectives they collected from the story. Then, we would discuss how our tails are similar or different when we use the same adjectives. 

Ages: 6-12 

Lexile Level: AD640L

Literary Elements
Setting: Underwater, dark swampy 
Mood: Curious, Sad, Excited, Together
Character: Brave, Strong, Thinker, Creative, Friendly