Fish is Fish
"Fish Is Fish" (Lionni, 1970) describes a fish who is keenly interested in learning about what happens on land, but the fish cannot explore land because it can only breathe in water. It befriends a tadpole who grows into a frog and eventually goes out onto the land. The frog returns to the pond a few weeks later and reports on what he has seen. The frog describes all kinds of things like birds, cows, and people. The book shows pictures of the fish’s representations of each of these descriptions: each is a fish-like form that is slightly adapted to accommodate the frog’s descriptions— people are imagined to be fish who walk on their tailfins, birds are fish with wings, cows are fish with udders. This tale illustrates both the creative opportunities and hazards inherent in the fact that people construct new knowledge based on their current knowledge.
Source: National Research Council 2000. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. p 11. https://doi.org/10.17226/9853.
The tadpole grows into an adult frog and leaves the pond to explore the world. He later returns to tell his fish friend about his adventures on land and the new creatures he sees. The fish imagines these creatures as bird-fish and people-fish and cow-fish and is eager to join them.
