This book is about a personified fish Arlene who wants to be a sardine. The contrast of the sing-song voice and vibrant exploding pictures with the suicidal message makes this book somewhat grotesque. The author begins by treating this little fish like a human being and then describes her death in an unemotional, flippant way. It is sort of shocking and could startle or confuse children. I suppose the author thought it would be humerus...? But I have hard time grasping it. Maybe his idea was more complex, I just don't know.
I read this book too and I was having trouble really understanding what it was that I didn't like about it. Thank you so much for pointing out that the author personifies the fish and then talks about it's death in a unattached way, that's exactly what I was thinking but I didn't know how to say it! When I read it, I felt that the author was promoting vegetarianism and how it is important to know what happens to our food because maybe if we knew we would think twice about eating. After reading it with this idea in mind I think it is easier to take in the ideas described but I definitely think the book is written in a biased and some what sarcastic way.
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