I feel like the book that had a huge influence on me during my childhood is Rainbow Fish. My mom was an avid reader, so she always made sure me and my sister read a lot as children. Every night, she would ask me what book I would like to read. My mom said every night I would choose Rainbow Fish. The cover was my favorite thing to look at. His scales were so shiny. Even the textures of his shiny scales were smooth.

The story is about a fish that has very unique shiny scales. Every day he would swim by and all the fish would gawk at his beauty. One day a small blue fish asked him for one of his shiny scales. Rainbow fish told the little blue fish to leave him alone. The small fish swam away. He told all the other fish what Rainbow fish said. The next day when he swam pass them, they ignored him. He realized no one wanted to deal with him. He wandered what he could do to get his friends back. A starfish tells him he should go see the wise octopus in his cave.

Rainbow fish went to the octopus and told him the dilemma. The octopus told him to give away his scales so he could get his friends back. The small blue fish came back and asked for a tiny scale, so he gave him one. Next thing you know, every other fish wanted one too. Rainbow fish gave away his shiny scales and received friendship. As a child, I sort of realized the moral of the story but I mainly paid attention to the images. I think the lesson from the book comes across clearly. When I reread it again, it was still as enjoyable, especially the images.