One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Appearances Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Line)

Quote #1

Some are thin. And some are fat. The Fat one has a yellow hat. (23-26)

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.

Quote #2

Say!
Look at his fingers!
One, two, three…
How many fingers
do I see?

One, two, three, four,
Five, six, seven,
Eight, nine, ten.
He has eleven! (56-64)

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?

Quote #3

These yellow pets
are called the Zeds.
They have one hair
up on their heads.
Their hair grows fast…
so fast, they say,
they need a haircut
every day. (290-297)