One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Appearances Quotes

Dr. Seuss tosses us into the world of bizarre looking creatures pretty quickly. Even though the book starts off with fish, which seem normal enough, the fish come in so many shapes and sizes it's clear that there's no such thing as stock and standard in Seuss's world. Here, the children observe a fat and thin fish without any judgment on which looks better. They're just different sorts of fish.

Here, the narrator marvels at the character that has one extra finger than we're used to. Instead of being weirded out or crying, "Freak!" though, the narrator's more excitedly curious than horrified. Later, he's even a bit jealous, wishing that he had eleven fingers, too. Which raises a question: if you had an extra finger, would you put it to good use?

In this section, a character introduces himself with some descriptions of his appearance. He declares that his hat is old and that his teeth are gold, smiling all the while as though he could not be prouder. And why shouldn't he be proud? The whole idea of the book is that we notice and acknowledge differences in appearance, yes. But there's no need to judge other people, creatures, and inanimate objects based on appearance. That's just un-Seussian.