One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Author	Dr. Seuss
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Children's literature
Publisher	Random House, The Living Books Company (1998)
Publication date	May 14, 1960
OCLC	184473
Preceded by	Happy Birthday to You!
Followed by	Green Eggs and Ham

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is a 1960 children's book by Dr. Seuss. As of 2001, over 6 million copies of the book had been sold, placing it 13th on a list of "All-Time Bestselling Children's Books" from Publishers Weekly.^[1] Based on a 2007 online poll, the United States' National Education Association labor union listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."^[2]

It is a simple rhyming book for beginning readers, with a freewheeling plot about a boy and a girl named Jay and Kay and the many amazing creatures they have for friends and pets. Interspersed are some surreal and unrelated skits, such as a man named Ned whose feet stick out from his bed, a creature who has a bird in his ear, and one man named Joe who cannot hear the other man's call because of a mouse cutting the line.

Audio and video versions[]

Rik Mayall narrated this story as part of a HarperCollins audiobook that also includes The Lorax, Dr. Seuss's ABC and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish was part of the Beginner Book Video series which included Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! and The Foot Book.

In other media[]

In the Netflix adaptation of Green Eggs and Ham, the titular fish are featured in the beginning of the episode "Train". When Sam, Guy and the Chickeraffe make their escape from a car barreling down a cliff, it lands in a lake where it promptly crushes a house belonging to a family of fish. Later in the episode as the mother checks on her own children, she specifically lists them off as "one fish, two fish, red fish and blue fish".

In popular culture[]

• In the Supreme Court case, Yates v. United States (2015), Justice Elena Kagan cited the book in her dissent to support the argument that fish are tangible objects as defined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.^[3]

• A book titled One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads was published in 1994, a parody of the title.^[4]
• The title of the 1991 episode of The Simpsons "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" is a clear parody of the title.
• The song "One Thot, Two Thot, Red Thot, Blue Thot" by rap artist Yung Gravy parodies the story in its title, swapping the word "fish" for "thot".

Theme park attraction[]

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Entrance of the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride at Islands of Adventure.
Islands of Adventure
Area	Seuss Landing
Soft opening date	March 1999
Opening date	May 28, 1999 (1999-05-28)
General statistics
Attraction type	Water Ride
Theme	One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Vehicle type	Fish
Duration	3 min
Universal Express available

The book was the basis of a theme park attraction located at Universal's Islands of Adventure in the Seuss Landing area of the park, called "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish".

Selected translations[]

• Visje een visje twee visje visje in de zee (1960s, Dutch, ISBN 9024002958)
• Devarim muzarim korim ba-sefarim (1980, Hebrew)^[5]
• Yi tiao yu, liang tiao yu, hong de yu, lan de yu (1992, Chinese, ISBN 9573211246)
• Un pez, dos peces, pez rojo, pez azul (2006, Spanish, ISBN 1930332831)
• Eyn fish, tsvey fish, royter fish, bloyer fish (2007, Yiddish, ISBN 9780972693936)
• Poisson un, poisson deux, poisson rouge, poisson bleu (2011, French, ISBN 9781612430294)

References[]