The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish (Book & CD)

This is the story of a boy who swaps his father for his friends two goldfish. This action triggers multiple swaps for the boys father with his friends who covet other various items. His kid sister nags him and tattles on him, and eventually his mother sends them both on the journey to bring his

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father home. After tracking him down (and re-swapping everything as he follows his friends path of trades) he finally brings his father home, only to consider doing the same with his sister!

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I deify anyone not to love this book! It is such a fun, quirky tale that only the coldest person could not enjoy it. Even the title brings s mile to your face!

This is such a DELIGHTFUL book! Funny and quirky, I like to read this over and over. And Dave McKean's art is lovely as always!

An interesting story of a good idea that was possibly not as great as it seemed at the time. The poor father ends up in a rabbit hutch, but at least his son defends him -- he may be a lousy rabbit, but he's not meant to be a good one, and apparently he's an excellent father. He's certainly a good

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sport. I'm fonder of The Wolves in the Walls; it's darker, but the characters are more congenial in general.

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A young boy swaps his dad for two goldfish that his friend brings over. His mother protests, so he and his sister go out to do a series of swaps to get his dad back, as things got swapped onward. Dave McKean did the illustrations, so they're lush and slightly off kilter, a perfect complement to the

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slightly off kilter story. :)

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The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean tells the journey of a dad swapped around town by a string of children (he's not very exciting). As one of my children pointed out "That Dad wasn't very involved. He just let them swap him and didn't do

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or say anything!" True, there is much more interaction between children. Even the mother and a passing police officer have more to say than Dad.

I bought the edition that came with a cd of Neil Gaiman reading the story. His voice is lighter and younger than I expected. We listened to the cd in the car for THREE DAYS. Then I took it out of the car and limited us to reading the story ourselved for at least a week. The book and cd went to school (1st-3rd grade classroom) and were a big hit. I'm told that after a group reading the cd player and headphones were booked all afternoon.

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The tale of a young boy who must undo a series of trades to get back his dad. It has its cute moments, but overall the story is somewhat lacking. The illustrations are interesting, though they give a somewhat creepy feel to the book. Overall an interesting read, but definitely not for everyone.

Surely every kid has wanted to swap their dad for a pair of goldfish. But what happens when dad actually gets swapped?

This is a terrific story, and I adore the art by Dave McKean. Ages 9 and up.

The artwork is delightful and Gaiman tells a fairly simple and amusing story that still manages to provide thoughtful reflection (what if we parents are so boring our children are tempted to trade us for 2 goldfish!?)

Ask the studnets to write about what they would swap for Goldfish. Cut it out and play a game where the students swap different things and see what everyone has at the end.

Trouble happens when a boy trades his dad for two goldfish. Goldfish are fun, but how hard is it going to be to get dad back. Well, a lot.

Children's Picturebook, fanatsy

I have a soft spot for Neil Gaiman and know him from adult fantasy and comic books, and I wasn't sure how well it would translate.

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As it turns out it translates pretty darn well. It's funny and irreverent and definitely something that kids can relate to.

The downside of this book for the classroom is that the art is a little too loose, it's hard to relate to visually for kids. One-on-one you can walk through the story with a kid, but the messy pictures seem too busy for carpet time.

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A boy traded his clueless dad who just sits on the couch reading newspaper all day and have no clue what's going on with his friend for 2 beautiful goldfishes, but when the boy's mother came back home, she yelled at the boy and told him to get his father back, but his friend traded his dad for

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something else, and this happened several times as he runs all over the town trying to get his dad back. Finally, he found his dad and brought him home but the dad didn't even have a clue of what happened and is still reading the same newspaper! What a weird father and what a weird son he has for trading something so priceless for something so common!

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I picked this book because of the illustrations. They are so cool and very different than any other children's book I had seen. After I read the book I liked it even more. It is about a boy who trades his dad for some goldfish and his dad keeps getting traded around to other people. It is very

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interesting and unlike most other children's books.

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Fun for younger children. Great for talking about the importance of family and not trading things for other things.

a generous story of swapping and trading.. cute kids.. i guess i expected a bit more though...

This is a book about a bot who traded his father for two goldfish. The father has no clue what his son is doing behind his back while he is sitting on the sofa.

This book is something different than anything I have ever read. I cannot explain it but it seems that their was a problem between the

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father and the son.

This is such a great book to discuss with young people about the importance of family. Also it is a great way to introduce the child to not trading important things for non-important.

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Personal Response: I loved the illustrations in this book. I also enjoyed the bickering between the brother and his little sister.
Curricular Connection: In a First Grade Classroom, students can take turns reading the pages aloud at circle time. Then, the class can collectively make a chart of all

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the exchanges the children go through to get their father back.

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One day while their dad is busy reading the newspaper, the little boy and his little sister are playing. The little boy’s friend Nathan comes over and brings his two goldfish. The little boy thinks they are really cool and starts to bargain with Nathan on things in his room that he would be

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willing to trade the goldfish for. This becomes harder than the little boy thinks. Nathan refuses his baseball cards and even his robot. The little boy sits down and thinks really hard and finally comes up with an idea that Nathan agrees to. He finally settled for his dad!

I can relate to this because there have been many occasions where I wished I could’ve swapped my parents for two goldfish. They’re much easier to get along with, they’re easy to take care of, and they can’t talk to get on to you!

In the classroom we would make the concrete handprints to have them show how much they love their dads. I would also have a classroom discussion and have my class talk if they would have swapped their dad for the goldfish or not?

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P7 Both
the main character is a boy.

The just of this is that a boy swaps his dad form some goldfish and then his mum makes him go and get them back. the best bit of this book is the pictures.

This is a story about a boy who really wanted his friend's two goldfish, so bad that he traded his dad for them.

I thought this book was funny, but it was definitely not my favorite. I do think that children can relate to this book though, so I wouldn't exclude it from my classroom.

In the classroom,

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I would use this book to teach about the importance of family. Then, I would have them all draw a family portrait.

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This is a funny little book. I would think this is indeed how children view adults trying to quietly read their newspaper or book. Being so interested in it that they would barely notice being traded of for two goldfish. But I would have preferred swapping one of my sisters. I had a spare one

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anyway! ;)

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A cute little story for children from Neil Gaiman. Dave McKean's illustrations are creepy as usual. This will probably end up on Sebastian's shelf when he's older.

In the tradition of Maurice Sendack, who believed in showing the truth of the world-- however harsh or not-- to children Neil Gaiman does the same in this book. It is an amusing tale of a boy who trades his dad, who isn't paying attention, for two gold fish and is subsequently traded forward. It is

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a good reminder for parents to pay attention too, otherwise they might be traded away by their off-spring.

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From the author of The Wolves in the Walls and the incredible comic book series Sandman comes a delightful story about a young boy who decides to swap his newspaper-reading father for two goldfish, and his struggle to get him back.

The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish won the award for

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Newsweek's Best Children's Book in 2003, and British Science Fiction Association's award for short fiction in 1997.

It is based on a re-telling of an age-old tale of a item that gets swapped from person to person until the original owner needs to retrieve the object and swap item for item until he can get it back for good. In this story, a young boy decides to trade his father for two goldfish, but when his mother gets home and realizes what he's done, he's told he must go swap them back, only to find that his friend has swapped his father for an electric guitar.

It was only until the young boy gets his father back that he realizes what a good father he really is, despite him never paying any attention to him or playing with him and his younger sister. The dialogue is witty, and expressed exactly as children would speak and behave.

Dave McKean (illustrator) is a renowned colleague of Neil Gaiman, and illustrates most of his stories and graphic novels. His artwork is a unique blend of art and real-life photographs, and adds great depth to the story.

The Day I swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish is a great story to share with children, as many of them may, at some time or other, have been able to identify with the main character.

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