The story “A Fish out of Water” by Helen Palmer is a short story meant for a young audience. The story revolves around a simple plot and the author incorporates good writing skills to bring out the story. The characters in the play are all interesting and children would find this story interesting because they like pets.
The thesis of my essay is to explain the author’s skills through critique. My essay entails the various methods that the author uses to make the book appealing. Further, my essay focuses on what are the special modifications that make the book specifically suited for children audience.
The book has controlled vocabulary. There are author does not use complex words because of the simplicity of children’s vocabulary. The controlled vocabulary adds to the simplicity of the plot, which makes the book easy for children to understand. The author incorporates her writing skills well to achieve simplicity in the story.
Children stories are often simple and shortly presented for easy understanding among children mostly small children who have not learnt how to fully read and write. The story has a simple plot and a few characters. This makes it easy for children to familiarize with the stories characters. The simplicity of the plot is vivid. For instance, the main lesson is obedience and the fish growth excessively big from eating too much. The author made the plot in the story simple for children to relate with easily.
Children stories should appear attractive with images to capture the attention of the children. The story is an imagination story and the pictures in the book provide good imagery for the children who read this book. Further, the images make the story more appealing for children to read.
However, the author uses contradicting imagery in the story. For instance, the fish pet seller is called Mr. Carp. Perhaps, the author wanted to relate the story with the invasion of Asian carps southern and Midwest waters. The Asians carps have been subject of discussion because they have brought a change in ecosystems. The author is creative enough to name the fish pet seller Mr. Carp. It shows good use of symbolism in the story.
Stories set for the young audience contain wide levels of exaggeration. The author also uses deliberate exaggeration necessary for the children audience. For instance, the main theme in the story is obedience. The little child ignores Mr. Carp’s advice on feeding the fish. Thus, the fish grows extremely big that it is moved to the pool. At the end, Mr. Carp comes to the little kid’s home and makes the fish small again. The author deliberately exaggerates the story to make it interesting for children reading.
Works cited
Palmer, Helen, and Eastman, P.D. A Fish Out of Water. London: HarperCollins Children's, 2009. Print.
