Six Foolish Fishermen

by Benjamin Elkin

A clever boy counts six foolish brothers to convince them that no one has drowned while fishing

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Number, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Benjamin Elkin was educated at Lewis Institute, Chicago Teachers College, and Northwestern University. His published works include The Loudest Noise in the World (Viking, 1954), Gillespie and the Guards (Viking, 1956), Six Foolish Fishermen (Childrens, 1957), The Big Jump and Other Stories (Random House, 1958), The True Book of Schools (Childrens, 1958), The King’s Wish and Other Stories (Random House, 1960), The True Book of Money (Childrens, 1960), Lucky and the Giant (Childrens, 1962), Al and the Magic Lamp (Harper, 1963), and Why the Sun Was Late (Parents, 1966).

Reviews

[Michael2134]

The story of the "Six Foolish Fishermen" is a great book. My opinion on this book is good! I liked this book especially when I was little. The story line is pretty good, but it lacks detail on where the story takes place. The fact that it deals with fishing makes it ten times better in my view.

There are six brothers who love to fish, but all have different spots they like to fish. One brother likes to fish in a boat, one on a raft, one on the bank, one leaning against a tree, one on a bridge, and one laying on a rock. Each brother fished from the spot they liked the most. After a successful day of fishing the brother who liked to fish on a boat decided to make sure all brothers were accounted for. The brother then counted all of his brothers, but forgot to count himself. Since he thought that there were only five brothers accounted for, he asked his five other brothers to count as well. Each one forgot to count their self. In a panic they searched the river banks for the missing brother. While doing so they came across another fisherman who asked why they were so upset. One of the brothers explained what was wrong and the fisherman laughed at them. None of the brothers understood why the fisherman was laughing so the fisherman came up with a plan to reveal the “missing” brother. He told the first brother to give him his hand and yell one, once he squeezed it. This went on with each brother until they realized that all six brothers where there.

The main characters were six brothers that all loved to fish, but all had their favorite places to fish. This book was great. It was one of my favorite books while I was little. I read this book to my younger cousin who really enjoyed this book even though she has never fished she still laughed and enjoyed this book.

The story takes place on a small river, but there are no specification on time and what the river was called. It sounds like it was around the 1900's because of the equipment the fishermen used. They had only wood boats and sticks for poles.


I would recommend this book to any kid who is around four and up. This is a good book for younger kids to start out on.

[Prabhat sharma]

Six Foolish Fishermen (Haardcover) by Benjamin Elkin, Illustrator- Bernice Myers- Hindi language translation by Vidushak- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The book narrates the story of six brothers who travel to a riverbank to catch fish. Each of them locates themselves at 6 crucial point and by evening catch a few fishes to take them home. While on their way back, they count whether all of them are together or some one is missing. While counting themselves, the foolish brother fishermen do not count the person who is counting. Thus, they are afraid that one brother is missing. A clever who is passing, enquires and finds out their difficulty. The clever boy says that he will pinch each brother’s hand, he should count a number loud. Thus, they find that they all six brothers are together. Coloured illustrations help the reader in relating to the story. I have read the Hindi language translation of this book.

[LB]

I recently revisited this book from my childhood.

I think this is a very enjoyable book for young readers (especially since it explains why they count 5 instead of 6).

[Dee]

Great counting game and cool 1957 illustrations

[Sithembiso Mpongwana]

This is my favourite book of all time.