299C: He sucked up all the water with his mouth

I would like to find a children’s book I read around 1965.  I was born in 1956. I do not recall the title.  It was hard cover, I think it had a book jacket. The dominate color was red.

The subject was Chinese fishermen, about 20 of them, trying to catch fish in a lake with no luck.  One of the men decided to suck up all of the water with his mouth, and his belly expanded immensely.

The fishermen were then able to run out into the dry lake bed and pick up all of the fish which were just lying there.

 

15 thoughts on “299C: He sucked up all the water with his mouth

  1. Laura

    This is the Five Chinese Brothers – I don’t recall an author name, but I very clearly remember the images and the dominant red!

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  2. Jane Kansas

    That sounds like The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop. It’s available as a reprinted paperback.

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  3. Anne Moore

    I think this is The Five Chinese Brothers. It’s a folktale, and there’s a version written by Claire Hutchet Bishop and Kurt Weise that was published in the US in 1938.

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  4. Sandra Cervantes

    Possibly The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop, first published in 1938. In one of the early editions shown online the brothers on the cover wore bright red shirts.

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  5. Stephanie Bechtel

    I think this is Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop and illustrated by Kurt Wiese, published in 1938

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  6. John R Mead

    Lol! We _all_ remember the same story! I think this was read on Captain Kangaroo when I was a kid, if not Captain Kangaroo then a similar TV program of that era, I have vivid memories of seeing the pages on the TV, I don’t think my family actually checked it out of the library when I was young. It’s still in print.

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  7. Sandra Hubert

    This is a re-telling of a Chinese folk tale titled “The 10 Chinese Brothers”. As others have mentioned, it was written by American author Clare Hutchet Bishop and published in 1938 by Coward-McCann.

    Reply
  8. marion peebles

    Crazy because I’m looking for the exact same book do you recall that the illustrations were beautiful Chinese line drawings not the crappy book that everybody keeps trying to tell you this book is I have the exact same memories of this book and yes I believe it is red but now I’m starting to think it is part of a book with multiple folktales on it and that way were not able to find it. Crazy because I’m looking for the exact same book do you recall that the illustrations were beautiful Chinese line drawings not the crappy book that everybody keeps trying to tell you this book is I have the exact same memories of this book and yes I believe it is red but now I’m starting to think it is part of a book with multiple folktales on it and that way were not able to find it Illustrations in the book I’m looking forward beautiful not racist

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  9. LANCE SHYTLES

    I read the same book when I was a kid or a teacher read it to us but it was a little different it was one man that sucked up all the water and two little Chinese kids ran out to pick up fish and they disappeared into the distance and after they didn’t return the man had to let the water out of his mouth because he couldn’t hold his breath

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