4⭐️ | A shimmering tale of teamwork and ocean courage 🐟🌊
In this adventurous addition to the Rainbow Fish series, our favorite sparkly friend faces one of the ocean’s biggest fears—a trawling net. But instead of panic, we get a beautiful moment of community, courage, and quick thinking.

This story is a gentle way to talk about ocean conservation and the power of helping one another, perfect for little readers who already love Rainbow Fish. The message is strong, the illustrations are classic and comforting, and the ending? Just the right kind of heartwarming.

A great pick for bedtime or classroom reads about friendship, bravery, and caring for our world beneath the waves. 🐚💙

Rainbow Fish and friends are trapped! They work together to solve a problem. Many lesson can be taught with this beautifully illustrated book. I like how it teaches to work as community for the good of all. Rainbow Fish books always have a sparkle and share good messages for all ages.

If your kids like Rainbow fish they will enjoy this book too.
While the story felt like something we’ve seen in a movie(Nemo) with it being Rainbow fish and friends they will enjoy seeing out they get out of the situation.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I believe this is the 10th follow-up to the iconic children's book "The Rainbow Fish". While the images where colorful and eye catching, I felt the storyline itself was slightly lackluster. I rated it three stars because, while it was by no means a "bad" book, there was just something left to be desired as I finished that last page.

My daughter loved the pictures but too many words for her, shes still a bit young but still a great story. Definitely would recommend it to my niece!

Thank you to North South Books and NetGalley for my Advanced Reader Copy! I actually didn't love this one, so I am not posting it on my Good Reads, etc. I felt like it was missing some of the magic of the original story. It felt like a cheaper, watered down version. I always want to be honest in my feedback and I'm thankful y'all let me read it!

This really didn't hit for me. The Rainbow fish is an iconic character, but this story is just that one scene in Finding Nemo, redone with the rainbow fish, with nothing really learned or explained. Unneeded.

Rainbow fish is a classic and I love sharing these stories with my son (4 years old). Being able to educate him on keeping the sea a safe untouched place was easy with this book. He cheered when the "bad guys on the boat" left.

Thank you so much to netgalley and publishers for this adorable ARC! A very sweet addition to the rainbow fish catalogue, and hopefully will encourage more environmental awareness in little kids. Absolutely loved this, will be recommending it AND reading it in storytime!

Rainbow Fish and the Great Escape by Marcus Pfister is a colorful and engaging children’s book that combines stunning illustrations with an important environmental message. The colorful illustrations are a standout, capturing the underwater world with vibrant hues that will attract young readers aged 4–8.

The story centers on the environmental impact of bottom trawling, subtly teaching children about how certain commercial fishing methods can harm ocean life. Pfister weaves this lesson into an exciting narrative, making it thought-provoking without feeling heavy-handed. The moment when the ocean wildlife gets caught in the net can be a bit scary for younger readers, but it effectively underscores the stakes of the story.

Overall, this book is a wonderful blend of education and entertainment, perfect for sparking conversations about ocean conservation with young children. Four stars.

I was invited to read a DRC from NorthSouth Book through NetGalley. This review is my own and reflects my honest thoughts and opinions.

This is a cute book. It doesn’t flow as well as the original rainbow fish though. I don’t think all children will be a fan of this as it could be perceived as kind of scary. However it does teach an important and factual lesson. It just isn’t as fun or fluffy as many other children’s books. Pictures are very pretty- just like the original.

Big thanks to the publisher for letting me read Rainbow Fish and the Great Escape by Marcus Pfister ahead of release.

Rainbow Fish is back—and this time, the stakes are high. Word is spreading under the sea about fishing boats dropping massive nets, wrecking coral, and scooping up sea life. Rainbow Fish and his crew don’t think it’ll happen to them... until it does. When they’re caught in one of those nets, they have to work together, think fast, and find a way out.

This one delivers a strong message wrapped in a fast-moving story, and the artwork continues to be classic Rainbow Fish—bold, colorful, and instantly recognizable. It’s a great read aloud with built-in discussion opportunities about environmental impact, teamwork, and quick thinking under pressure.

Rainbow Fish and the Great Escape swims into stores on October 7, 2025—definitely one to preorder if you're building out your read aloud library or classroom collection.

My 6 year old and I LOVED this new rainbow fish book! Old familiar characters team up to share the damage that us humans can do to a vibrant underwater world. Rainbow fish and his buddy little blue fish get a helping claw to save the day when a trawling boat comes and turns the scary stories they’ve been hearing into a real life scary event. It’s a great intro to ocean conservation and could be used to introduce students to more complex issues. I will definitely be adopting it for my classroom.

This Rainbow Fish story shares an important message. The Rainbow Fish and friends are captured in fisherman nets. Craps and lobsters rescue their colorful fish friends. This story shares an important message of the dangers that fish nets does to our environment.

Love to see more of our friend Rainbow Fish! This book will be great for teaching about conservation. Taking care of our ocean and it's resources is so important for the future! Also we are always talking about teamwork in the classroom and communication. My students will love this addition to our friend Rainbow Fish. Thanks for the chance to read it.

Growing up, The Rainbow Fish was one of my favorite stories, so I’m so happy to see that this series continues to deliver meaningful messages, vivid imagery, and inspiring tales. Thank you to NetGalley and NorthSouth Books Inc. for the ARC of this book. The story brings awareness to the oceanic crisis and the harm being done to marine life as boats drop massive nets that not only capture sea creatures, including endangered species, but also damage the ocean floor and their environment. I love how the fish come together to find a solution that requires quick thinking, unity, and bravery. The illustrations are beautiful, as always. A great story with a great moral, and very nostalgic. I read it to my little ones, and they easily understood the message and vowed to be conscious when they’re adults about the ocean animals and how humans play a role in keeping the ocean and its animals safe! They requested to reread it.

My son loves just about everything Rainbow Fish and he enjoyed reading this with me. While the subject matter is a bit beyond a 3 year olds level, the message is clear to older readers. The illustrations are as wonderful as ever.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving us the opportunity to read and review this new Rainbow Fish book!

Rainbow fish & his friends and neighbors in the sea hear talk of other fish gong missing! After chalking this up to a scary story, rainbow fish & his friends end up experiencing getting captured by a net first hand. The ocean floor suffers devastation, however, rainbow fish works together with the crabs to set everyone free. This is certainly an important topic. For myself personally, I would only read this to a little one as an opening point for that discussion topic. It wasn't really the most fun to read. Very beautiful illustrations, but kind of bland text wise and scary story wise. Would choose another read on this topic instead if it was available. However, it still remains visually stunning and would serve an adult just opening up on the topic as a good aid.

This 10th installment in the iconic Rainbow Fish series is not only visually beautiful but contains a really strong message for children about the power of teamwork. It also highlights an important topic about fish trawling and gives a voice to the fish it impacts!

The artwork, as usual, is a joy to look at and the colours are perfect for drawing little eyes into the story. It's always so lovely reading these picture books as they're the perfect mix of great visuals and stories that will appeal to young readers (and those reading along with them!).

Wow! First of all, the nostalgia hit me hard with this one. I used to read rainbow fish growing up all the time.

The illustrations are just as beautiful as I remember.

The story itself is fantastic, I really appreciate that it covered important topics like species being endangered and how nets can negatively impact the seabed and large mammals.

Thank you for the arc!