THE COLORS JESSE SEES

Bartel delivers an illustrated children’s book that introduces colors and farm equipment in a unique way.

Jesse is a young boy who, like many kids, loves things with wheels—especially tractors. This story, which features full-color cartoon illustrations by Thompson, teaches colors by using examples of real-life tractor brands that are green, blue, or red and naming other objects that share each color. Jesse’s mom’s green tractor matches the hue of cucumbers and summer leaves; the blue tractor that his uncle drives shares the color of blueberries; and the red tractor that Jesse’s neighbor drives recalls tomatoes and a stop sign. As a result, Jesse refers to objects that aren’t tractors with familiar tractor brand names; this causes confusion when he attends school and mistakenly describes grass as “John Deere,” for example, and a river as “Ford.” After an entire day of this, Jesse hatches a plan and asks his loved ones to drive their tractors to school for his classmates to see. Once the rest of Jesse’s classmates and his teacher make the connection, they understand why he was naming colors in such odd ways the day before. Their bafflement vanishes, and young readers will come away from the tale understanding that sometimes a person will make unusual associations that may require clarification. The author uses the term sour beer in several places when referring to ginger ale, and many readers may be unfamiliar with this terminology; however, this aspect fits the book’s message, intentionally or not. The illustrations portray Jesse and his family as light-skinned, while Jesse’s classmates and other characters are depicted with a diverse range of skin tones.

A straightforward story of tractors, colors, and common understanding.