I read this to my children in the 70’s and 80’s. The moral of the story seemed to be about compassion and freedom. It seems that it was an oblong shaped book, not hard cover, but not cloth, but flexible.
It seems that the background, on the very colorful pages, was black and shiny. When your hand warmed places on the pages, the color would brighten and become visible. The story was about a very beautiful, happy fish, jumping and gleefully playing in the sea. He is somehow caught (don’t remember how or by who) maybe with a net, by a man or boy. The person takes the fish home to keep forever and puts him in a little pond. Not long after being in the pond the fish becomes dull and sad and not beautiful any longer. He is released back into the sea and swims off, shiny and beautiful again in the sea. The last line in the book is something like, “ a beautiful, or magical fish loses his beauty or magic when captured”.
I have decided after much thought that it was probably not my children in the 70’s that I read this book to, but my grandson in the 90’s. Might make a big difference in finding it. The memory of the story and the colors are not changed in my mind. It was just a nice book about caring about the feelings of others, even if it is just a fish.
As I have thought about it so much, I have come to realize that it may not have been my children I read this to, but instead my grandchildren and that would have changed the timeframe to the 90’s. The story and the colors and the heat sensitive colors along with the theme of considering others feelings and making them happy, even if it is only a fish, is not changed in my mind.
“A fish loses his beauy when captured”
I found the book through the website AbeBooks.com forum.
It is The Magic Fish by Janet Turner
out of print
I was right when I realized that it was not my children, but grandchildren, that I read it too. It was first published in 1986.
It is almost as I remembered it. A few details were different, but basically it was the same.
The last page tells it all:
From grey to gold
The waters rolled,
The boy gazed on enraptured.
For he knew in his heart
What he’d felt from the start,
Magic fish lose their magic when captured.