Children's Books discussion

This month, the Miscellaneous Club will explore color. This could be anything from picture books teaching preschool children their colors, to technical books about about the physics of color. In libraries that use the Dewey Decimal system, most of these color books will be found in the 535 area. Books about the use of color in artwork would also work for this topic.

Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky

I thought the illustrations in this book were outstanding. Minter did a fantastic job of marrying his illustrations to the fascinating text, and expanding upon it. I also loved that he used different colors as a background to the illustrations; not only blues, but also orange, green, and yellow. Some Goodreaders are hoping this book will win a Caldecott Award; it could also be candidate for a Sibert Award.

Black Bear Red Fox

Both aesthetically splendid on an illustrative level (as is of course natural and in fact also to be expected with Julie Flett's always stunning and visually expressive artwork) and indeed to and for me as a language and linguistics enthusiast also very much educational and enlightening regarding Cree as a language (and how colours are used in the latter), I have found Black Bear Red Fox absolutely wonderful in every way. And yes, as a German instructor (and a budding linguist) I also and in particular do totally appreciate the detailed supplemental information (at the front of Black Bear Red Fox) on Cree, the always necessary pronunciation guide, that in Cree, colours words are obviously seen and approached as verbs and not as adjectives, with Cree nouns being divided into two categories, into inanimate and animate objects (which information has definitely been very much helpful to and for me, as in Black Bear Red Fox, the colour endings for animals are obviously animate and for plants inanimate, makes perfectly common sense, but yes, very nice and educational to have the book so clearly demonstrate and show this). Highly recommended and indeed, even if you might not be all that interested in the text itself (in the dual language Cree and English colours and nouns) and the detailed linguistic information on Cree and how it as a language works colour-words wise, just Julie Flett's pictures (colourful and full of a simplicity that nevertheless is to my eyes also quite complex in nature) are enough to in my opinion seriously consider Black Bear Red Fox as a book either for purchase or to sign out from your local library (if available).

Color Zoo

Imaginative and marvellously innovative, and as such Color Zoo is really also a wonderfully simple but totally fun introduction to colours, shapes and animal names for young children (and I can certainly understand and applaud the Caldecott Honour designation award to author/illustrator Lois Ehlert), mainly as a read aloud of course, but Color Zoo would naturally also be delightful and engaging for children to explore on their own, as it is just the right size for exploring and curious little hands, and as a board book, children can not only observe the shapes and colours, but feel the raised configurations, touch them, repeatedly trace their contour lines. And yes, I especially appreciate how the geometric shapes become increasingly complex as Color Zoo progresses (from a simple circle to more complex shapes such as a hexagon and octagon), and actually but in indeed also with a bit of frustration I kind of do wish that Lois Ehlert had equally done this with regard to the animal shapes (and names) designated and depicted in Color Zoo, moving from simple to more involved and complex offerings (as the animals do feel a bit haphazardly chosen, with complex and simple examples curiously intermingled, but that is a minor and likely even a rather personal issue). Finally, a small but in my opinion also important caveat that due to the interactive nature of Color Zoo, I would tend to ONLY recommend the board book format. For with traditional hardcover or paperback editions of Color Zoo, pages could easily become loose, bent, ripped and torn by eager and exploring toddler hands (and considering that this is what children are actually supposed to in my opinion be doing with Color Zoo, it would in fact and indeed be almost a bit of a potential trap to not give them the board book, as with the other formats, even with gentle interactive usage, some damage will or at least likely could occur).

Richard Scarry's Colors

Albeit that author Kathleen N. Daly's presented narrative really is (at least in my humble opinion) quite too painfully simplistic, and this even if one does consider that textually Richard Scarry's Colors has indeed and clearly been conceptualised for very young children, Richard Scarry's illustrations, yes, they most certainly are phenomenal and a true aesthetic gem and treasure (his sweetly adorably illustrated anthropomorphic bunny rabbits and that they oh so much more successfully and delightfully demonstrate not only primary and secondary colours but that many of our common hues are actually combinations than Daly's rather mundane printed words ever could). And in fact, I for one would more than likely have enjoyed Richard Scarry's Colors considerably more if the (if Richard Scarry's) wonderful pictorial renderings were in fact not being accompanied and a bit dragged down by Kathleen N. Daly's text (if the book would actually be totally and utterly wordless), as I have on a personal and potential reading pleasure love just found the author's utilised words and sentences not only rather lacking in and of themselves but also not in any way even remotely close and complimentary to the visual magic and delight that the illustrations do show (and tell). Therefore, while I still do quite highly recommend Richard Scarry's Colors as a generally very good, useful and visually, aesthetically marvellous introduction to basic colours for young children, personally I can and will actually ONLY recommend Richard Scarry's pictures, as I just do consider author Kathleen N. Daly's presented text as much too annoyingly basic and too tediously mundane even for very young children just learning and needing to practice their colours.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I still (and yes, even years later) cannot even remotely fathom that Bill Martin Junior's classic and universally beloved by young children Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was actually and in fact categorically banned in 2010 by the State Board of Education in Texas because its (and no, I am not really feeling contrite at all or in any manner guilty about being insulting and denigrating here) obviously woefully lacking in even basic intelligence members (and in particular totally moronic board member Pat Harding, who also made things much much worse and herself look absolutely and utterly ridiculous by repeatedly and vocally trying to justify her sorry self) somehow and in error believed that Bill Martin Junior was the author, was the same Bill Martin of the DePaul University in Chicago, who in 2008 penned an academic textbook called Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation (a book I have actually read, and no, it did not turn me into a raging Communist either, Ms. Harding). I mean, banning children's books is bad enough anyhow as well as it being totally undemocratic and dictatorial (read Stalinist, Fascist), but really for those extremist right-wing Texas ignorants who were obviously infesting the State Board of Education like dangerous parasites to ban and to forbid Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? from being used and displayed in Texas schools because they were obviously not able to figure out that the author of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and the author of Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation were different Bill Martins (and especially since Bill Martin Junior had died in 2004 and the other Bill Martin did not even pen his ethical Marxism book until 2008), this just so totally and painfully shows that the Texas Board of Education's members who insisted on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? being removed from schools are either not able or not willing to adequately research authors or the books they write. And really, how is the Texas Board of Education's 2010 banning of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? any different from when in the South Africa of apartheid, Anna Sewell's classic horse autobiography Black Beauty was banned by government bureaucrats because they thought the novel was about people with darker skins being beautiful (and of course, this could not be accepted in South Africa, and without the bureaucrats even bothering to read Black Beauty, it was banned). But then again, perhaps Pat Harding actually did read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and thought (after noticing the author's name and freaking out in error and terror) that there indeed might be some kind of hidden and insidious left wing propaganda present and ready to hurt young children in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, to turn them into Communist agitators, that perhaps Eric Carle's illustration of that big red bird signifies Bill Martin Junior's support of Russian Communism, of Leninism and that the yellow duck's colour could be considered as being a positive nod towards China, towards Maoism? I mean, who knows, and while I am of course being majorly tongue in cheek and facetious here, it is indeed pretty darn surprising and woefully painful how many strange reasons for banning books especially book banners in the USA and in staunchly Social Conservative areas do seem to regularly come up with and vehemently support (and democracy, my foot, since Social Conservatism is far far too often politically Fascist in scope and also even quite majorly politically and philosophically akin to Stalinism and Leninism at its extreme, at Social Conservatism's most reactionary and most radical).

The House of Four Seasons

Presented as a story of how a family decides which colour to paint their newly purchased but in need of some tender loving care house, Roger Duvoisin's The House of Four Seasons is a fun and engaging basic introduction to colours, and not only the primary colours of blue, red and yellow, but also how the three primary colours combined in different manners will then make other further colour hues (how yellow and blue make green, red and yellow make orange, blue and red make purple, and red, yellow and blue make brown), and finally how according to the father, the prefect colour to paint their new house should be white, as white is considered to be a combination of ALL of each and every colour. Now while I absolutely do adore the accompanying illustrations, which are totally and absolutely Roger Duvoisin magic and glowingly, and yes, with no pun intended, colourfully fill the pages of The House of Four Seasons with descriptiveness, with expressive movement, light, shadow and the presented, depicted sweet glories of the four seasons, the featured text, the narrative of The House of Four Seasons in my opinion kind of seems to rather fizzle out and actually become more than a trifle stagnant at the end. For the storyline of the family (of mother, father, Suzy and Billy) as a collective unit purchasing a house in the country and then debating amongst themselves which colour(s) to paint the house they do end up buying, it does start out so very strong and engagingly entertaining, evocative, with especially that the parents do not simply tell their children what colour their newly purchased domicile will end up having to be, that everything is debated and democratically discussed, being massively appreciated and cheering. However, the ending of The House of Four Seasons, the part where the father by means of a colour wheel then shows his wife and children that white is ALL colours and that therefore, white is the perfect colour for their new house to be painted, well, to and for me, this all does really feel a bit too pedantically preachy and pedestrian in both form and expression (and so different from the beginning of The House of Four Seasons, from how the family originally debates colour choices for their new house) that it indeed has very much lessened my until that moment sense of sweet enchantment to the point of considering no longer a four star but only a high three star rating for The House of Four Seasons (and also realising that with Roger Duvoisin, it is usually and primarily his illustrations that always do shine and glow brightly, that when he is both author and illustrator, it is usually his pictures, his artistic depictions and not so much his narratives, his texts that I find magical, lovely and an aesthetic pleasure).

They Say Blue

Now for basically a concept book on colours, nature and the seasons, Jillian Tanaki's They Say Blue is in many ways aesthetically magical (and especially at the beginning of They Say Blue, the interplay between Tanaki's lyrical free verse poetry and her accompanying illustrations is lyrically sweet, enchanting, almost song-like in scope and feel). However (and for me personally), there is just a bit too much of a visual emphasis on the little girl, on the young narrator of They Say Blue, and with that I mean, I definitely would much prefer to ONLY see colours and depictions of nature, to actually not have ANY visual representations of human figures at all included in They Say Blue. For to and for me at least, especially the continually depicted and shown little girl, as well as the spreads where multiple images of ONLY human beings are shown, I feel that this kind of pushes the narrative, Tanaki's poetic words into the background a bit and that the delightfully poetic and caressing textual images of colours, of nature, of seasonal changes are actually even a trifle lessened and rendered somewhat pale and lifeless by those spreads which portray mostly illustrated human masses (and indeed, that image of the little girl turning into a tree is really too strange and fairy tale like to work with a basically realistic although imaginative poetical narrative on seasons, colours and the wheel of nature). Four stars for Jillian Tamaki's poetry and for how she illustratively uses colour and light, how she depicts environmental, seasonal and natural images, but the fact that I really aesthetically do not all that much enjoy the pictorial emphasis on the narrator of They Say Blue, this does indeed make my average ranking but three stars, as on a personal level, there are just too many human beings depicted, considering that the text of They Say Blue mostly concentrates on colours and on natural, non human images.

Green

I have very much enjoyed (no more to the point, I have absolutely visually adored) Laura Vaccaro Seeger's expressively bold green-based illustrations (and thankfully, these images are also not JUST in green, but also make use of other complimentary colours, as while green is indeed my very favourite colour, I for one would not have liked Green nearly as much if the presented pictorial spreads had only been rendered in green and nothing but green). And while I do have to admit that the accompanying text is at best a bit mundane and really in no way anything even remotely all that narrationally special (and so much so that I for one actually almost tend to wish that Green had been constructed and left as a wordless picture book), the illustrations are indeed precisely and gloriously the kind of boldly expressionistic type of artwork I tend to most enjoy (realistic but also abstract at the same time, with thick and rich colours and often brushstrokes that can be seen, that have been left by the artist, a celebration of not only green but really of colours in general, a palette of delight and joyful expression, and as so evocatively penned by the immortal Romantic poet John Keats, Laura Vaccaro Seeger's painted images of green are indeed illustrations that at least for my own aesthetics, for my own visual tastes glowingly represent a thing of beauty that is truly a joy forever and as such, Green is a book that I will without a doubt look at again and again to feast my eyes on the glorious colours and images, a real and true "keeper" for me). Highly recommended and yes, the only reason I am not granting a full five star ranking to Green is simply as already alluded to that I do think the book would have worked considerably better as a wordless picture book, that illustrator Laura Vaccaro Seeger's rather mundane and lacking accompanying text does leave a bit to be desired (and at least for me, it kind of tends to distract from the utterly gorgeous and expressive beauty of the depicted artwork).

Seven Blind Mice

Both very much fun and also engagingly informative, Ed Young's Seven Blind Mice is in my opinion most perfectly suited for joyful and engaging entertainment but it also contains a seeming multitude of important teachables. Now while the main message promoted with and in Seven Blind Mice is of course that one needs to know, to be aware of, to understand the various parts to comprehend and appreciate the whole and this then vice versa, Seven Blind Mice might also be used to familiarise young children with basic colour patterns, the seven days of the week, as well as the numbers form one to seven. Highly recommended and truly in many ways, a perfect marriage of text and images! And although from a personal and aesthetic point of view, I would actually not really all that much consider Ed Young's illustrations as favourites, his pictorial rendering are indeed a wonderful and useful mirror of both the featured narrative and the learning-based units shown and introduced (for example, how each of the seven blind mice's skin colour seems to correspond to the part of the unknown object, to the elephant, that is being studied each day, except for the last and completely white mouse which then also realises that when combined, the parts actually do make an elephant).

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present

Nothing in any way earth shattering and with no real narrative tension and excitement (or even minor conflicts), Charlotte Zolotow's Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present features and shows simply and beautifully, descriptively an utterly sweet and charming back-and-forth dialogue between a rather serious (and perhaps even somewhat mildly introverted) little girl and her friend Mr. Rabbit (who is indeed a genuine bunny, but might also in fact be an imaginary and make-believe helper and companion) about what kind of present the little girl should get for her mother (for her mother's birthday). And after carefully considering a multitude of diverse objects that would in fact not make much sense as birthday gifts for Mom (coloured red, yellow, green and blue), the little girl and her rabbit companion finally decide on red apples, yellow bananas, green pears and blue grapes as a present (in other words, on a basket of fresh and delicious fruit). Now aside from Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present simply being the tender and enchanting narrative of a little girl (with Mr. Rabbit's help, of course) finding the perfect (or perhaps rather a perfect) and indeed sweetly lovely fruit basket birthday present for the mother, the listing of diverse nouns of different colours (red, yellow, green and blue), and even though most of these diverse and various objects listed except for the four types of fruit end up not being suitable as birthday gifts, this all not only practices and reviews four of the main and most commonly encountered colours on the spectrum, but also trains and considers which objects are generally which colours (fire engines are red, the sun is yellow, spinach is green, lakes look blue etc.). And therefore, Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, while definitely and without a doubt first and foremost a story about gift-giving, about choosing a suitable and appropriate present for a loved one, for anyone, is also of much potential usage for basic colour instruction (for practicing four of the most commonly seen and encountered colours with young children and dividing nouns, objects into which colour shade they are). And as to Maurice Sendak's accompanying illustrations, they are for the most part and generally very much exquisite and as lovely and evocative as Charlotte Zolotow's text, her descriptive and evocative, but always simple and soothing printed words (esoteric, and delicately nuanced, especially the surrounding greenery and forest like atmosphere are a lovely and magical complement to the author's presented narrative, and I can well and completely understand why and how these illustrations won a Caldecott Honour designation for Maurice Sendak in 1963). However, on an entirely personal level, I do find the depiction of Mr. Rabbit a trifle too close to a European hare than an actual rabbit, as it is usually European hares which have the long ears and limbs by which Mr. Rabbit is illustrated (rabbits generally are much smaller and have very short limbs and ears), not enough for my sense of aesthetics to vehemently object, but from the title of the book itself, from Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, I did in fact and indeed originally expect more of a small bunny like rabbit with short ears and smaller, less gangling limbs.

Summertime Rainbow: A Mandarin Chinese-English Bilingual Book of Colors

This simple dual-langue board book introduces basic colours in English and Mandarin Chinese. The included pinyin is much appreciated, however, it really should have been used within the text proper (underneath the Chinese characters) and not just placed at the back of the book as a supplemental note (for while the pinyin is indeed a wonderful additional learning tool, having it relegated to the back can easily prove frustrating as it means or rather as it can mean having to constantly flip back and forth to check, to verify). The accompanying illustrations are sweet, warm and descriptive, and although very much carton like and juvenile in look, they do work well with the presented text, successfully and glowingly aesthetically mirroring the scope and general purpose of Summertime Rainbow (as it is basically meant for very young children just learning their colours). That being said, the material presented in and by Summertime Rainbow might also be of use and benefit for introducing basic colours in Madarin Chinese to adult learners taking a first level colege or university language course (as long as the instructor does not limit himself or herself to using teaching materials primarily meant for young children, as that could rapidly become tedious and frustrating to and for adult learners, not to mention annoying).

Politics aside (and I am a right-wing Texan), Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was a favorite book of mine to use in storytimes about either bears or colors. I also made the characters in the story into magnet board figures so that the children at my storytime could put the animals up on the board as I read the story. They got a big kick out of doing this.

Beverly wrote: "Politics aside (and I am a right-wing Texan), Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was a favorite book of mine to use in storytimes about either bears or colors. I also made the c..."

I just cannot understand how ANYONE would not be able to figure out that the two Bill Martins are totally different people, and that there also is NOTHING left or right wing about Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.

I can see how this book would work great for interactive storytime.

Just had to delete another promotional post, sigh. Authors, please read the group rules, as you are ONLY allowed to place a comment or a topic about your own work in the author/promotional section (and yes, even if said work fits a topic thread such as this one).

Colors

There is nothing really textually stimulating with regard to Colors, and no, considering that Colors is geared specifically towards toddlers, I certainly also did expect John Burningham's printed words to be very basic (as befits what a board book is supposed to accomplish).

But Burningham's accompanying artwork for Colors is actually quite visually intricate and pretty full of descriptive detail, with all kinds of varied and diverse objects, people and animals being shown and my one main aesthetic complaint about Colors being that for my eyes, the toddlers John Burningham draws do all tend to look a bit like little old bald headed men (and that for 1985, I also kind of find it rather frustrating that there is absolutely no ethnic and very little gender diversity being depicted within the twenty-four pages of Colors). And considering that the text for Colors is not only really simplistic but actually does not really mirror the illustrations all that well and all that much either (since John Burningham only presents the colour names and nothing but the colour names, sufficient, I guess, but also rather lacking, rather boringly one-dimensional in my humble opinion), while I do think that John Burningham accomplishes his intention of introducing basic colours to the very young with Colors, if I were using this book with and for young children (up to about the age of four maximum), if I were reading Colors to the intended audience, I would definitely use the illustrations to supplementally be textually expanding, since indeed except for the featured colour words, Burningham's writing does NOT AT ALL describe his featured pictures.

Manybooks wrote: "Seven Blind Mice

Both very much fun and also engagingly informative, Ed Young's Seven Blind Mice is in my opinion most perfectly suited for joyful and engaging entertainment but it al..."

This is one of my favorite picture-books, especially great in classrooms because there are so many concepts and themes that can be explored.

The Noisy Paint Box is fun; I actually gave it four stars:

Oh! I love this! I probably would not have discovered it if not for the fact that it won a Caldecott honor, so ty to Children's Books group.

I appreciate how concise it is; it gets to the point directly, and is therefore powerful. I love the art, and I am glad to say that it makes me appreciate Kandinsky's own work more (which is why I read children's artist bios, but only sometimes do they succeed).

And it reminds me of what I try to do when with children making art. I don't ask them 'what is it supposed to be,' instead I say, "Please tell me about your work."

Marketed to adults, but probably, iirc, just fine for anyone who can manage the text, is Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant. I immediately thought of this when it occurred to me that synesthesia is about colors and would get us something that's not just a picture-book... I don't remember it being about someone who is autistic, but there you go. I will look for more about synesthesia, too.

Cheryl wrote: "The Noisy Paint Box is fun; I actually gave it four stars:

Oh! I love this! I probably would not have discovered it if not for the fact that it won a Caldecott honor, so ty to Chi..."

I also really love The Noisy Paint Box

This one sounds like a fun topic! One of my favorites, and one of the only picture books my parents kept from when I was a child (I'm thrilled to say I've used my original copy in two or three lesson plans already) is Party Animals by Katie Davis. If I recall correctly I first learned the words/colors "turquoise" and "chartreuse" from this book. Full review to come.

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina is another one I could talk about here because of the way color is used in the text and the illustrations. More on that coming soon.

Other ones I want to look at:

Fiction:
Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds (we used this one in a summer school program I was working in a few summers ago but it's one I don't remember that much of, although I liked it and would want to reread)
Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong (one of my practicum classes looked at Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes by the same author to introduce various shapes (Kindergarten) and I definitely want to continue with this "series")
ZUZU and the Colorful Feeling Buddies by Kate Krakowska (seems like an interesting SEL one, I have it as an ebook)
(I'm not sure where I can get a copy but I really want to read this one)
The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad (I'm pretty sure we just got this one in at my library, I think I remember shelving it and have been hoping to read it for a while)
My Rainbow by Trinity Neal (representation of trans children, something we desperately need)
This Book Is Gray by Lindsay Ward
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
Pinkalicious and the other books in the series (I have and the curriculum library has a lot of them)
Pink Is for Boys by Robb Pearlman (at the curriculum library)
Rainbow Weaver / Tejedora del Arcoiris by Linda Elovitz Marshall (at the curriculum library)
Festival of Colors by Surishtha Sehgal - or anything about Holi, the Indian Festival of Colors in general (on the bookshelf at the after school center where I work)

Nonfiction:
The Rainbow Mystery by Jennifer Dussling (Also from the summer school program I worked about, about light and prisms and rainbows)
The Crayon Man: the True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow
Red Eyes or Blue Feathers: A Book about Animal Colors by Patricia M. Stockland (I own a copy)

And all the ones I just checked out at the library despite the fact that I absolutely should have waited until I have less to do:

Nonfiction:
Vincent's Colors by Vincent van Gogh
I Spy Colors in Art by Lucy Micklethwait

Poetry:
The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas
Paint Me a Poem: Poems Inspired by Masterpieces of Art by Justine Rowden
Black is Beautiful by Ann McGovern
The Earth is Painted Green by Barbara Brenner

I hope it's okay that a few of my selections use color (especially black and brown) to address race and racial issues by looking at colors in nature and life

Well, I just clicked on a lot of your titles, including the ones that address the 'isms. You do find interesting titles!

Celia wrote: "This one sounds like a fun topic! One of my favorites, and one of the only picture books my parents kept from when I was a child (I'm thrilled to say I've used my original copy in two or three lesson plans already) is Party Animals by Katie Davis Party Animals by Katie Davis. If I recall correctly I first learned the words/colors "turquoise" and "chartreuse" from this book. Full review to come.."

Oh! That doesn't look familiar and it's much too new but I remember reading a book to a girl I was babysitting and I made the mistake of using the word pink. "That's not pink," she corrected. "Purple then," I said. "No that's not purple either. That's MAGENTA!" I then pointed to a blue-green color and she said "That's AQUAMARINE!"

I purchased The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A BabyLit® Colors Primer as a baby gift. It was cute and the story does lend itself to colors but this little volume doesn't do justice to the story of Dorothy and her friends.

Cheryl wrote: "Well, I just clicked on a lot of your titles, including the ones that address the 'isms. You do find interesting titles!"

Haha thanks. Can't wait to read them throughout the month!

Anywhere, Anytime Art: Colored Pencil: A playful guide to drawing with colored pencil on the go!

Enjoyable, totally, utterly engaging, not at all and in any manner ever intimidating (read not openly didactic) and indeed also full of oh so much good advice, I certainly have found Cara Hanley’s Anywhere, Anytime Art: Colored Pencil: A Playful Guide to Drawing with Colored Pencil on the Go an amazing art resource. And yes, I really do very much appreciate that while Cara Hanley does of course and appreciatively provide many solid suggestions as to what kind of colored pencils, what kind of drawing paper etc. one could be buying, she also and clearly demonstrates that basically, in order to start, all one really requires is just a set of good standard drawing pencils and paper, either loose leaf or a sketch book.

A book that one can either follow slavishly from cover to cover or where a budding and interested potential artist might also decide to simply pick and choose, I love love love that in Anywhere, Anytime Art: Colored Pencil: A Playful Guide to Drawing with Colored Pencil on the Go author/instructor Cara Hanley always seems to feature an attitude of being both encouraging and never in any manner a frustrating and annoying “my way or the highway” kind of individual, that she of course gives advice, but that her advice is always simply advice and not presented as being art orders set in stone so to speak and which absolutely need to be followed with no questions asked. Highly recommended and indeed, it is especially that sense of having personal art and product choices and freedom and of being allowed to experiment and not to have to meticulously follow what Cara Hanley presents and features in Anywhere, Anytime Art: Colored Pencil: A Playful Guide to Drawing with Colored Pencil on the Go (as well as her sense of fun and lack of dour seriousness) that have made this book such a joy to read and so encouraging with regard to me trying out sketching with colored pencils (with no strings attached and with no feeling that there is only one way to proceed).

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors

On a purely and utterly textual level, I have absolutely adored the both colourful and oh so esoterically, sweetly preceptive seasonally inspired poetry, the lyrical nature verses author Joyce Sidman presents in Red Sings From Treetops. The words used, featured, they to and for me so totally and completely capture and distill what the four seasons, what spring, summer, autumn and winter represent and mean (they are lively, sweet, and yes, glowingly shining with exquisitely colourfully hued gracefulness, pure and caressingly tender lyrical perfection).

And if Red Sings From Treetops were indeed presented to me as simply a collection of poetry, a compilation of lyrical offering glorifying and celebrating the four seasons, I would most likely be rating it with four and perhaps even five stars.

However, and this is a very massive and frustrating however, I personally have not at all enjoyed illustrator Pamela Zagarenski's accompanying illustrations (and have not really been able to even mildly appreciate them, their 2010 Caldecott Honour award quite notwithstanding). For although I have previously rather enjoyed Pamela Zagarenski's artwork and illustrative style, her accompanying pictorial offerings for Red Sings From Treetops are for one and first and foremost much too minutely small and thus massively difficult for me to even adequately visualise with my rapidly ageing eyes and for two, the images shown, well, they mostly seem rather exaggerated, visually strange and to the point that they do not really in any way complement or compliment Joyce Sidman's poetry, feeling continuously and distinctly out of place and leaving me so massively disappointed on an aesthetic level, that I am in truth only able to truly enjoy and savour Red Sings From Treetops and fully submerse myself in Joyce Sidman's brilliant and lovely lyricism if I am able to actively ignore and forget about the illustrations. And since I have not really been all that much able to accomplish and achieve this, and as the illustrations always do seem to annoyingly and frustratingly intrude and interfere, I can and will only consider a low three star rating at best for Red Sings From Treetops, with a full five stars for the text, for Joyce Sidman's outstandingly superb seasonal nature poetry, her paean to spring, summer, autumn and winter, but only one tiny star for Pamela Zagarenski's accompanying illustrations, for at least for and to me, they have left nothing but disappointment and aesthetic frustration, and have resulted in a rather major headache to boot, because I have constantly been forced to squint due to the tininess, the lack of visual clarity of the featured, the presented pictures.

Living Color

Fun, informative (and thankfully, unlike with some of Steve Jenkins' picture books, a decently enough rendered Kindle format, although indeed, the accompanying illustrations are aesthetically a bit too small for my ageing eyes, are not really large enough and detailed enough as an e-book), Living Colour has been a generally pleasant and even for myself quite educational and enlightening reading experience. And yes, I do find the separated into colours animal species visually delightful and the information provided by author and illustrator Steve Jenkins not only educational but also penned in an approachable and engaging manner, in other words, never monotonous, never tedious and in my humble opinion also sure to retain the interest and not to tax the attention span of the intended age group of older children from about the age of seven or so onwards (but of course, Living Colour is also not just for children either, but equally something for interested teenagers and adults).

Now I were just to be rating Living Colour for what Steve Jenkins has penned concerning the animal species featured (both within the text proper and in the supplemental information and details section), I would most likely be ranking Living Colour (and sorry, but I am going to and without contrition be spelling colour in the Canadian/British manner) with five stars (as the combination of Jenkins' informative narrative and his bright and descriptive collage like accompanying artwork is truly and utterly spectacular). However, I do very much wish that the included bibliography with suggestions for further reading were a bit more visually prominent, as when I first read Living Colour I in fact totally missed it and actually assumed that Steve Jenkins had not included a bibliography (and indeed, I was actually almost going to be granting only three stars for Living Colour until I realised that there indeed is a bibliography included but that it is just not all that easily and readily visible).

A Kunwinjku Counting Book has a limited palette as inspired by traditional rock art etc. It's reinterpreted by an artist of Aboriginal blood and heritage, and is absolutely glorious. My review:

Stunning. And important - I knew almost nothing about these animals and even less about the people who live among (and eat) them. I'm thrilled by the authors' notes, by all the information, by the art. My only complaint is that there are no illustrations of photos of the animals; a page of thumbnails in the back would be nice. No bibliography, but none necessary.

Five stars not because it's perfect, but because I recommend it to everyone, whether you normally read picture-books or not this is a fantastic introduction to some info. about Australian Aboriginal culture.

Green on Green I would love to read this aloud over and over again, the text is a song. Great for bedtime, and probably for library story-time too. Brilliant incorporation of the story that the art tells with the story of the seasons as explored in the text.

Great topic! I already see so many of the books I thought of listed so I will see what else I can come up with. Right now, we are really into fall colors and I totally loved the art in If You Find a Leaf with actual leaves incorporated with the illustrations. It's so creative the way leaves are made into hot air balloons, bicycles, hats, dresses--even a bonfire. The reds, yellows and oranges really pop. It inspired us to try some collages like this ourselves.

Coincidentally, we just read this and loved it! Perfect for this theme:
A New Green Day
I thought this was wonderful and am really surprised to find that the overall rating here on GR is under 4 stars. However, I think some readers didn't like that the riddles are rather challenging and I can certainly empathize with that, especially if you are sharing this with very young readers and they will be frustrated if they cannot guess. We e read it more as a straight-through picture book, pausing to muse for a moment over what it might be, but not really being bothered if we didn't "get it" (though we did get almost all of them but my kids are 6 and 9 so beyond the age that many kiddos will be trying this). I loved the way this is written, the invitation to ponder and marvel. The illustrations are not really "wow" for me on their own but work within the context of the book. I'll include a few examples below so you can decide for yourself if this is something that will delight or frustrate your young reader:

[In a block of yellow on one page]
"Morning lays me on your pillow,
an invitation, square and warm.
Come out and play!"
[turn the page to see a child laying in bed]
"says sunlight."

[green]
"When I move,
I measure.
I'll count the tickles
across your hand"
----
"says inchworm."

[brown]
"I am cool pudding
on a muggy day.
Let your toes have a taste!"
----
"says mud."

Picture books for the theme are easy, of course, and I'm going to be reading a bunch of them. But I also found, while browsing my OKC library shelves, three for older children.

Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess: not sure how much about colors this is, but even the author is named Shari Green so I'm confident that color is going to be at least a subtle symbolic theme. And it looks like a fun MG book.

Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia is shelved for adults, but I can't imagine I'll find any reason a skilled and interested younger reader couldn't get plenty out of it.

And then there's A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass which is also a wonderful insight into synesthesia. MG fiction, with other themes common in books for that level. This I have read twice and my review is already available; the others I'll review later.

Something very European and different is on Open Library. Read it yourself before sharing it with children. The Queen of Colors

Lee Paints a Picture: A Book about Colors


This is a super simple book explaining primary and secondary colors, aimed at Kinder and first grade students. There are one or two sentences on each spread, in very large font. The book is illustrated with large, clear photographs. A youngster named Lee is painting his family, and the book shows the mixing of paint colors. The only thing missing, IMO, is Lee's finished painting. Otherwise, a decent enough introduction for children new to the subject. The back matter includes a short glossary, extended learning activities, and a short bibliography.

A Ray of Light: A Book of Science and Wonder


This excellent science book covers light as energy, incandescence, light waves, the color spectrum, and more. The concepts presented are fairly technical, and most suitable for middle school students and older; with more in-depth explanations in the back matter. Excellent photos.

Another MG novel that features synethesia but as an adjunct and not as a primary phenomenon is Out of My Mind, where Melody has cerebral palsy, but also synethesia and a genius IQ.

Manybooks wrote: "Another MG novel that features synethesia but as an adjunct and not as a primary phenomenon is Out of My Mind, where Melody has cerebral palsy, but also synethesia and a genius IQ."

Does she have synesthesia? I don't remember that (but it's been a long time lol)

Celia wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Another MG novel that features synethesia but as an adjunct and not as a primary phenomenon is Out of My Mind, where Melody has cerebral palsy, but also synethesia ..."

Yes, she does and in fact really loves this.

Leila in Saffron by Rukhsanna Guidroz

A Pakistani American Muslim girl named Leila visits her Naani (grandmother) for a weekly family dinner. That night, Leila is "on the lookout for parts of me that I like." Her Naani compliments her saffron-colored beads on her dress, and Leila admits to the reader that sometimes she doesn't know if she likes her body. As she goes through the dinner, the reader learns a lot about Leila's culture and her family. She talks about family connections and connections to Pakistan, and she realizes there's a lot to like. At the end of the book, Naani takes Leila upstairs and shows her her collection of colored scarves. These scarves are described in colors that are reminiscent of food familiar to Leila - colors of lentils, pomegranates, cucumber skins, and saffron. Leila asks her Naani to surprise her with one to try on and of course she selects the saffron one.

This is a sweet story that includes the way certain colors can bring us confidence or help us feel good about ourselves. I appreciated the message, but the story itself felt incredibly disjointed.

There is also a glossary in the back, and it tells you the translations for the foreign words used, although not the language they're in. I think it's Urdu, but I had to look that up, and that was a bit frustrating. I feel like when writing about marginalized cultures, especially for the youngest and most inexperienced (in life) readers, you need to be explicit in terms of defining the culture and languages used.

As much as I want to like Leila in Saffron, it seems like it would confuse more than entertain or tell a story about a culture or about confidence.

The Wonder of Color


In the context of an interesting fiction story about an art contest, children learn about primary and seconday colors, and how light waves are made up of the colors of the rainbow. The illustrations depict and expand the story well.

That sounds fun!

I was rather impressed by Dazzling Science Projects with Light and Color. From my review:

Starts out simple, but quickly gets interesting. The projects are meant to teach us about light and color, and to inspire ideas for science fair projects; the student is advised towards other resources.

I wish I had a kid so I could justify doing some of these projects that need a bit of special equipment. There was a lot that I could have learned that I just didn't because I didn't do the projects.

Chameleon, Chameleon got four stars from me!

Impressively engaging and educational, despite being very short and simple. The two good author's notes help, but so does the photography that tells a large part of the 'story' of this chameleon's adventure. It makes me want to learn more, as now I have lots of questions.

I found it particularly interesting that it was the other critters in the environment were using color for camouflage; apparently those kinds of chameleons who use color actually do so to signal mood. (And yes, there are different kinds of chameleons.)

I also gave four stars to the very colorful Vincent Van Gogh: He Saw the World in Vibrant Colors:

Wonderful design and focus on art. I particularly like the timeline that includes representative pieces. Biography raises more questions than it answers, especially in those of us who have heard other details of his life. Highly recommended to those interested if your library has it.

Cheryl wrote: "Chameleon, Chameleon got four stars from me!

Impressively engaging and educational, despite being very short and simple. The two good author's notes help, but so does the photography..."

Been hoping to read this one, my library has it. Thanks!

Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds

Five stars because yes, everyone should read it. Very effective, as the reader is given a chance to experience the epiphany before the character does.

Great counterpoint to Lemons Are Not Red.

Black is Beautiful by Ann McGovern

It's difficult to tell what the purpose of Black is Beautiful is. The rhymes are decent at best, and a lot of the imagery is black used as a contrast. For 1969 (publication date), this is an interesting concept, but there would need to be updates today.

Those updates should definitely include the photographs. Again, I recognize the quality of cameras in the 60s and 70s was nothing like it is today, and I think these photos were quite good for the time, but I would appreciate a modern revamp with more contrast between black and other colors.

Some of the pages and images do feature black people, but this almost seems to be an afterthought. I'm not sure if Black is Beautiful has anything to do with the civil rights movement of the time, but I'm really not sure where this is going.

One Plus One Equals Blue

I specifically decided to read Mary Jane Auch's 2013 One Plus One Equals Blue because the book synopsis on Goodreads and on Amazon certainly seems to indicate that Auch's featured story would be focussing primarily on synethesia (and that I find how for some individuals numbers etc. are associated with colours, smells, sounds and textures, that there is sensory confusion being encountered, an intriguing scenario and possibility). However, that both main protagonist and first person narrator Basil and his new classmate Tenzie have synethesia, well, this is not at all a major theme in One Plus One Equals Blue but rather appears to be (at least in my humble opinion) mostly just some kind of rather basic narrative tool Mary Jane Auch makes use of to have Basil and Tenzie become friends and kindred spirits (and to be honest, while I understand Basil's math oriented synethesia, Tenzie's numbers and colour grid, totally mathematics zero I just cannot really understand and find massively confusing).

And indeed, after they, after Basil and Tenzie discover that for both of them, ALL numbers have and rather are associated with different colours, there is unfortunately and annoyingly subsequently hardly any mention AT ALL regarding synethesia encountered in One Plus One Equals Blue and with Auch's story just featuring mostly painfully predictable instances of family dysfunction, parental neglect and that the school drama department and how Basil's returning failed actress mother is majorly wreaking havoc seems to be much more important and much more to be considered than Basil's and Tenzie's colour and numbers associations (which I certainly have found not only kind of ridiculous but also majorly aggravating and misleading if one considers the book title being what it is, since One Plus One Equals Blue obviously and of course shows only numbers and a colour and thus for me totally says and leads readers to expect a primary synethesia focus).

And combined with the fact that for me, both Basil's first person narration and in fact every single character encountered within the pages of One Plus One Equals Blue feel and read gratingly on the surface, simplistic and as such also not exhibiting much if any nuance, no, said lack of textual developmental in One Plus One Equals Blue (and that the from the novel's title promised and described synethesia is only basically simply a rather momentary blip from Mary Jane Auch's pen), yes, One Plus One Equals Blue has been a decidedly unenthusiastic and annoyingly humdrum low two star reading experience.

When I look at One Plus One Equals Blue and compare it to Out of My Mind, in One Plus One Equals Blue Basil and Tenzie's synethesia means rather nothing for the story except that it shows Basil and Tenzie that they have similar sensory experiences, while in Out of My Mind, Melody's synethesia is shown throughout the novel to be an integral part of herself and extensively, even lovingly depicted.