- Bibliography
Kimmel, Eric. 2008. The Fisherman and the Turtle. Ill by Martha Aviles. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Company. ISBN 9780761453871.
2. Plot Summary
A story about a hard working fisherman and his wife who live during the time of the Aztecs. One day while fishing, the fisherman captures a turtle in his net. The turtle offers him one wish in exchange for his freedom. The fisherman makes a wish to capture four fishes. After he returns home and tells his wife what happened, she insists on him returning to sea and asking for a better wish - to be rich and live in a stone home. Each time he returns to sea, she requests more and more over the top wishes exposing her greed. Finally, one day she tells her husband to wish that she is a god and she pays the price for never being satisfied.
3. Critical Analysis
The Fisherman and the Turtle is a folktale that is based on adaptations of the Grimm brothers’ The Fisherman and his wife. Set long, long ago in the days of the Aztecs, the story is told from an omniscient point of view. This point of view is one in which the wife, turtle and fisherman are all told by a storyteller disconnected from the tale.
The theme of this story is to be careful what you wish for. The wife was greedy and never satisfied with what she had. The more that her husband and the turtle provided for the wife, the more she wanted. Finally, when the fisherman’s wife wanted to be a god, she is turned into a stone statue like the other gods of Tenochtitlan.
The illustrations in acrylics and liquid watercolor were beautiful! A fabulous extension of the story. The look of the setting and characters was culturally appropriate and complimented the tale. The fisherman was always wearing the same loin cloth while his wife’s clothes got more extravagant with each page which emphasized her greed. Another beautiful part of the story is that each time the sea is shown, the water grows more intimidating and dangerous looking. The conditions of the sea change with each page and by the end of the book, the sea has heavy, rolling, waves crashing about the fisherman’s boat.
The sea is an integral part of the story and setting because it represents the struggles the fisherman goes through and how his world is changing. With each dramatic request, the setting in the sea becomes more hectic.
4. Award & Review Excerpts
“Aviles uses acrylics and liquid watercolor, as well as motifs from Aztec art, in the brightly patterned illustrations. She changes the placid, blue-green sea in the opening pages to a truly frightful place at the end” -- School Library Journal.
“The result of her final wish is a satisfying surprise. Kimmel concludes that while the mighty Aztec empire is long gone, the great turtle still swims in the sea "as he has since the beginning of time," and asks, "If you met him, what would you wish for?" -- Kirkus Reviews
5. Connections
- Provide students with folktales representing a similar story. Discuss the differences and similarities between the two stories:
- Brothers Grimm. The Fisherman and His Wife. 2001. The Creative Company
- Godden, Rumer. The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle. 1995. Buccaneer Books, Incorporated.
- Utilize a reading theatre that supports discussion at the end of the book after the author asks “What would you wish for?”
- Invite students to draw their own sea turtle whom which they would ask a wish of if they ever encountered to encourage creativity in artwork.
