PB 14:14 Day 6: DIALOGUE with "Faucet Fish"

Another favorite. How many favorites can you have? The illustrations in this book are awesome! Of course, I love ALL the books I'm featuring for this PB 14:14 event because I actually OWN all of them! Anyway, on to our learning for the day. Today's book features Story Element #4, Dialogue (and a little Word Play, too).


Title: Faucet Fish (orignally titled A Fish Wish in the UK by The Templar Company in 2005)
Author: Fay Robinson
Illustrator: Wayne Anderson
Publisher: Dutton Children's Books
Year: 2005
Words: 931

"Elizabeth loved fish. She spent every Saturday at the aquarium down the street..."

Summary: "Elizabeth can never get her parents' attention, even after she has filled the house with fish tanks to hold the creatures that keep coming out of her bathroom faucets."

What kid hates to feel like they're not being listened to? I think all kids can relate to Elizabeth. Her attempts to talk to her parents make this an extra special book to learn DIALOGUE with.


She wants more than just a simple guppy.

"Mom, can I have a piranha?"

"No, Elizabeth, you may not have a banana. We're eating lunch in just a minute," said Elizabeth's mother....

...Suddenly, PLUNK! A trout plopped out of the faucet.

"Oh boy," said Elizabeth. She ran to get one of her fishbowls.

"Mom!" Elizabeth called. "Look! A trout!"

"Yes, dear," said her mother. But she wasn't listening. 

The next day, "a flounder flopped out of the faucet." (Notice the alliteration of "f" and the onomatopoeia of "flopped.") She goes to her dad and asks a question about flounders, but he replies that he is too busy now. She is really starting to feel that nobody ever listens to her.

Here's a pattern of three, mixed with a bit of onomatopoeia:

The next day, a moray eel OOZED out of the faucet. A clown triggerfish followed. Then a squid showed up.

And listen to the rhythm and meter in THIS line (love it!):

catfish, dogfish, jellyfish, and rays; sticklebacks, halibut, lumpfish, skates

And more onomatopoeia:

swishing, zipping, and splashing with delight. (Hey there's that THREE, again.)

At dinner one night, Elizabeth brought all the fish to her parents' attention, or tried to, but they still didn't notice or even listen. She says,

"My favorite fish so far is the sea dragon... 

"Personally, my favorite dish is cauliflower-rutabaga pie..." said her father.

When a baby beluga whale SPLASHED into her bathtub, Elizabeth decides it's time to make her parents listen. As she has a conversation with them, "a rumble from above interrupted them."

"What's that?" said Elizabeth's father, looking up (the dialogue is always moving the plot forward).

..."Is it raining?" asked Elizabeth's mother.

Then of course the whale "came whooshing down." CRASH!


And then of course, she finally has a conversation with her parents where they ask her to explain all the fish. And she matter-of-factly states what type of fish it is - "It's a beluga whale, Mom." She explains how there are lots of others and that "[she's] been trying to tell [them]."

So Mom shouts that she'll call 911, or something and Dad shouts that he'll call the Navy, or something. And Elizabeth simply states that she'll call the plumber at the aquarium. He comes over and tells them it's a "fish jam." When they couldn't live in their house anymore, she shouted, "Yes!" but "her parents gasped." And from then on out, they always listened whenever she spoke.

10 out of 14 spreads have dialogue. Only 4 spreads do not have any dialogue. And the spreads that do aren't filled with it. It's naturally spaced out and gives near-equal amount of space for the non-dialogue counterparts.

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