The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

"I'll swap you my dad," I said.
"Oh-oh," said my little sister.

What if you wanted your best friend's two goldfish so much that you'd swap anything for them, even your father?

What if your mother came home and found out what you'd done?

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish is a hilarious adventure and was the first book for younger readers from the acclaimed author and illustrator of the New York Times best-sellers The Wolves in the Walls and Coraline. Chosen as one of Newsweek magazine's Best Children's Books of the Year, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish is beloved by readers of all ages. This new edition features brand-new jacket art and an afterword by the author on the origins of this unique and wonderfully funny story.

Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Dead-on Dialogue, Great Art November 9, 2004
21 out of 23 found this review helpful

I really fell in love with this book!

The concept, a series of Dad swaps, may sound cutesy, but the execution is delightful and not the least bit saccharine or repetitive. The children's actions are nuanced in a charming yet realistic manner, and it's easy to freely accept the logic of the book because it is, in essence, child logic. The deadpan and earnest delivery really makes this story.

The layout is graphic novel, but you never get more than two horizontal panels a page. McKean's beautiful artwork suits the book to a tee. The drawings are primarily ink and what appears to be oil pastels, with occasional photographic images and newsprint worked in.

The reading level is probably 1st grade and above, but I'm not a child professional or a parent.

btw, I strongly suggest reading the author's note afterwards. It's quite interesting and explains a lot about the book.

2 out of 5 stars

Funny Absurdism -- with a VERY Nasty Edge. February 24, 2006
18 out of 49 found this review helpful

One minor problem for me, that is evidently not a problem for many others, was the art. I was put off by the blotchy, surrealistic, color-schemes, which were distracting, and rarely added to whatever charm the line-drawings themselves possessed.

Getting past that, I was able to enjoy the silly story. Humor is often generated when the tension is created by horror or fear, but then is punctured by the absurdity of the situation.

All decent people should be horrified by the idea of buying and selling other human beings, in pursuit of materialistic goals, as though they were mere objects. Here, however, the absurdity of the situation breaks the ice. We know that virtually no real child would want to sell his or her father. Moreover, the idea of this rather useless dad permitting himself to be bartered all over town by children, without ever once looking up from his newspaper, is completely nonsensical. I suppose children might laugh (just as I did).

Another saving grace is that, even though the story is told from the point of view of the creepy little sociopath of a son who sells his dad, there were other characters for me to root for. I was completely on the side of the little sister, who (quite properly) objects and protests the scheme. She (quite properly) rats him out to his mother, who is also suitably furious, and makes this creepy little materialist promise never to sell his dad again. Morever, since the bulk of the story concerns the quest to RECOVER the bartered-off dad, even the boy is doing the right thing for much of the narrative.

But then comes the TWIST. You see, he never promised anything about not selling his little sister. The last panel shows the brother's huge shadow, mouth open with glee, reaching like an ogre for this little girl, who looks small, isolated, helpless.

This time, I did not laugh.

Why not? This time, sadly, the absurdity of the situation does not puncture the horror. It is not absurd enough, and it is too horrific. We do not think the boy is joking. Earlier in the tale, we actually saw the little sister bound and gagged by the older brother to prevent her ratting on him to Mom (a disturbing enough scene in its own right). Moreover the pictures make the boy look much larger and stronger than his little sister -- the situation lacks the obvious jokiness of bartering off one's much-larger dad while he never looks up from his newspaper. Even the THREAT of selling your little sister to your friends is potentially a nasty and frightening form of abuse.

Gaiman's afterword tells us the story reflects real and bitter hostility that existed between two of his children, and further reflected a similar bitter hostility between himself and his own sister. This eerily suggests that the final panel might have been inspired by genuine malice. How, then is it a joke? If bitter hostility between siblings is a problem -- and it often is -- ought not the message, in a picture book ostensibly marketed for children, be a bit more positive? Payback time, little girl! I guess she shouldn't have ratted out her creepy older brother. Funny to Gaiman, perhaps, but not to me.

5 out of 5 stars

Instant Classic December 5, 2004
7 out of 10 found this review helpful

Children's books are released every year, but rarely do new offerings approach the quality of the genres old favorites ('Goodnight Moon', 'Where the Wild Things Are', etc). Neil Gaiman has, IMHO, written an instant classic with "The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish". I picked it up in a bookstore and couldn't put it down, giggling to myself the whole way. The plot is, well, read the title, the book takes off from there. Dave McKean's illustrations are perfect for the occasion, bringing the story to life. A great gift with the upcoming X-mas season for children, parents, or really anyone with a sense of humor.

5 out of 5 stars

great book October 31, 2004
6 out of 9 found this review helpful

this was my first introduction to Neil Gaimon's material. I had heard of him doing the Sandman series but not really read it. His name still remained on that list of 'people to read.' I happened upon this book and Wolves in the Walls at the National Book Festival in DC in early October and was delighted by the dark ilustrations, the experimentation with artistic mediums. But so impressed with the material. It leans a bit to comic book genre, having thought bubbles instead of dialogue paragraphs, that sort of thing. But I loved it. Definitely a book worth buying for your or your children's collection.

5 out of 5 stars

Can he swim? May 19, 2005
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

"Poor soul."
- *my* dad

Illustrator Dave McKean also illustrated Gaiman's CORALINE, as well as drawing the covers for SANDMAN. I highly recommend Gaiman's unabridged recording of the book, which accompanies the hardcover edition, but McKean's illustrations make it even better. The recording is also included in the GAIMAN AUDIO COLLECTION, but that version omits the author's afterword of how he came to write the book.

The narrator's father doesn't notice much when he's reading the paper. The narrator and his little sister (who have the same kind of cold war going that many siblings do) are playing outside - the sister with her dolls, the brother by harassing his sister - when the narrator's friend Nathan comes over with his new goldfish. They're neat, so the narrator wants to swap for them, but what will Nathan accept?

The narrator says some people get ideas once or twice in a lifetime, and discover fire or electricity. (The illustrations are particularly good for this bit.) Some people never get ideas. He gets them two or three times a week. :)

In the immortal words of the narrator: "Uh-oh," said my little sister.

Of course (as the little sister points out beforehand), the narrator is in big trouble when their mum gets home, and the two of them are sent to Nathan with the goldfish and told not to come back without their dad. But Nathan did another swap with another neighbour in the meantime. :)

(My mother, being the youngest in her family, offered her opinion that it wasn't fair for the mother to expect the little sister to have stopped her brother. I take that to mean the characterization is very good indeed, if the situation is *that* recognizable as true to life.)

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