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Humu: The Little Fish Who Wished Away His Colors
Humu - his Hawaiian name is Humuhumunukunukuapuaa - is a beautiful but shy fish who wishes he was all one color, like his two best friends. Unhappy with the way he looks, Humu swims far, far from home, and asks a wise, magical whale to take his colors away. He would rather be able to blend into the sand. But when Humu returns, his friends help him realize how beautiful his true appearance really is. Can Humu find the wise whale in time to get his colors back?
- GenresPicture BooksChildrens
32 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2000
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 1, 2013
I adore this book.
I honestly need to make a new goodreads bookshelf titled "Poorly made books that are fun to read."
A good friend of mine from Hawaii purchased this book and sent it to me as a Christmas present a few years ago. I am 21 years old, but I managed to convince my mother to read it to me like I was a child again. We laughed the whole way through.
This book stars Humu (a character similar to Rainbowfish), a fish who is insecure about his colors, wishing he can be the color of sand like her friend Tang or the color of a sunset like her friend Red. The watercolor pictures are pleasant to look at (there's always the same little starfish in the background), but Humu is always crying in her melodramatic fashion in the foreground.
The writing is not good. It's redundant in a manner that's on accident rather than to appeal to small children. Humu is hard to relate to. He's not melodramatic in a way a child might be. Rather, he should be diagnosed with a serious clinical disorder. Amidst wallowing in self-pitty, a humorous magical event happens (with many plot holes) to force Humu into valuing himself.
I had so much fun with this book that I read it to friends and they adored it too. "What? Why did that happen?! How did he get there? What's the logic in this?!" they cry out -- and we have a blast.
I say it's a good read if you don't take it seriously, and I respect it under the context that it's really more of a souvenir than a bed time story.
I honestly need to make a new goodreads bookshelf titled "Poorly made books that are fun to read."
A good friend of mine from Hawaii purchased this book and sent it to me as a Christmas present a few years ago. I am 21 years old, but I managed to convince my mother to read it to me like I was a child again. We laughed the whole way through.
This book stars Humu (a character similar to Rainbowfish), a fish who is insecure about his colors, wishing he can be the color of sand like her friend Tang or the color of a sunset like her friend Red. The watercolor pictures are pleasant to look at (there's always the same little starfish in the background), but Humu is always crying in her melodramatic fashion in the foreground.
The writing is not good. It's redundant in a manner that's on accident rather than to appeal to small children. Humu is hard to relate to. He's not melodramatic in a way a child might be. Rather, he should be diagnosed with a serious clinical disorder. Amidst wallowing in self-pitty, a humorous magical event happens (with many plot holes) to force Humu into valuing himself.
I had so much fun with this book that I read it to friends and they adored it too. "What? Why did that happen?! How did he get there? What's the logic in this?!" they cry out -- and we have a blast.
I say it's a good read if you don't take it seriously, and I respect it under the context that it's really more of a souvenir than a bed time story.
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January 31, 2017HUMU The Little Fish Who Wished away his colors is about a fish who is different than his fish friends. He has lots of colors, he is rainbow. He wished he could be all red or all yellow like his friends. Humu was very sad and lonely so he swam far away.He ran into a humpback whale and he was a little scared. The whale talked to Humu about his problem and asked he explained. Humu had wished he was only one color, the color of the sand so he could blend in to the bottom of the ocean. The whale admitted to having magical powers and could grant Humu the wish of being sand. So Misty the humpback whale turned Humu from a rainbow colored fish to a sand colored fish. Humu ran back home to show his friends, but they wondered where Humu's colors were. They missed the old Humu. So they were on an adventure to find Misty. All of a sudden Humu's colors appeared and he swam them right on. Humu and his friends swam off happily.
I really loved this book. The colors were amazing and the story line was cute. A fish who felt like he didn't fit in. I think everyone feels like that at least once in their lives.
This book could be a just for fun class read at the beginning of the year to talk about how we are all different. A lesson to be nice to everyone and make everyone feel like a friend because we may never know what they are thinking or how they feel. Also how we never want to leave a classmate out because that can really hurt a persons feeling like poor little Humu with his colors. His freinds should of explained why they were laughing and told Humu and always apologize for hurting someones feelings. Words can hurt just as much as actions. I would make all these lessons a part of learning from this book. Then have everyone right what they would do differently if they were Humu's friend and how they would of handled the situation differently.
I really loved this book. The colors were amazing and the story line was cute. A fish who felt like he didn't fit in. I think everyone feels like that at least once in their lives.
This book could be a just for fun class read at the beginning of the year to talk about how we are all different. A lesson to be nice to everyone and make everyone feel like a friend because we may never know what they are thinking or how they feel. Also how we never want to leave a classmate out because that can really hurt a persons feeling like poor little Humu with his colors. His freinds should of explained why they were laughing and told Humu and always apologize for hurting someones feelings. Words can hurt just as much as actions. I would make all these lessons a part of learning from this book. Then have everyone right what they would do differently if they were Humu's friend and how they would of handled the situation differently.
July 13, 2017
This helps 😉 how to say the name - Humu Humu Nuku Nuku ah poh ah ah.
February 1, 2025
My 2nd fave childhood book 🥹💙 the colors are so vivid in the illustrations and the story is very well written.
November 6, 2013
The Hawaiian fish names are long and every time I read it, it comes out different which can be a little humorous. The description of Humu's colors don't match the images and my 2 year old daughter corrects me if I read it how it's written.
Overall, my daughter likes it and isn't that really the point?
Overall, my daughter likes it and isn't that really the point?
December 11, 2013
This was always my favorite fish (the Hawaiian state fish) when I lived in hawaii. It is a cute story and my daughter loves it when I read it to her.
October 7, 2015
Colorful book to illustrate the fact that a person should accept who they are and that they do not need to change to be accepted.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews