From a Goldfish's Point of View

Memoirs of a Goldfish

Written by: Devin Scillian

Illustrated by: Tim Bowers

Published by: Sleeping Bear Press, 2010

32 Pages

Modern Fantasy

   It's an easy life swimming around a fish bowl all day..... until new decorations and pets begin to overcrowd. This story is told from the point of view from a goldfish and explains how each day gets a little harder.
   Bowers uses vibrant illustrations that help young readers see the different objects overcrowding the fishbowl. Although this is not a wordless picture book, the images could alone tell the story. As seen on the cover, the goldfish has a helpless expression on his face, which is seen mostly throughout the entire book. 

   In a fourth grade language arts classroom, students must be able to identify the different points of view. I would choose this story along with a story told in second and third person to align with the following Language Arts standard:

6 ) Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations. [RL.4.6]

   I like how each page has the heading of the day in a different color.This helps readers automatically identify that it is the beginning of a new day, and they are already looking at the illustrations trying to find out what new object is in the fish bowl.