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MY WORLD OF COLOR

Name: MY WORLD OF COLOR
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
ISBN: 0-7868-0605-2

by Margaret Wise Brown & illustrated by Loretta Krupinski ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2001

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When painter mouse and his young apprentice leave their castle to explore, they touch, smell, and observe, immersing themselves in the experience, and then wield their paintbrushes to capture some of the colors they find. “Pink as pigs / Pink as toes / Pink as a rose / Or a rabbit’s nose.” They see orange trees and setting sun, or yellow daisies and cabbage butterflies in busily detailed paintings that luxuriantly cross two-page spreads. The mice look with wonder at the beauty around them, and finally, after traveling in a teacup, hiding in the greenest ferns, and sketching from a birdhouse, the apprentice mouse stands triumphant, grasping paint-soaked brushes: “Now I can color!” In a closing summary, a few of the paintings included were not involved in the mice’s visual adventure, but were added to enable the rhyme. The mice are satisfied with their romp through colors; at last, back in their cozy castle, the two gaze up at their own artwork now framed and hung for their enjoyment. Not as satisfying are the illustrations themselves. Background colors—yellows, greens, and purples—don’t work with the rest of the art. Crowded scenes and the overdressed animals’ frills, buttons, and bows, though painted with a skilled hand, detract from Brown’s simple rhythms, compelling onomatopoeia, and perfect rhymes. Stealing the spotlight in this way weakens rather than complements the text, resulting in an awkward mix of art and literature. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: April 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-7868-0605-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Hyperion

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2002

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
TWO LITTLE TRAINS
by Margaret Wise Brown ; illustrated by Greg Pizzoli

- BOOK REVIEW
A HOME IN THE BARN
by Margaret Wise Brown ; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

- BOOK REVIEW
GOOD DAY, GOOD NIGHT
by Margaret Wise Brown ; illustrated by Loren Long

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TEN LITTLE FISH

by Audrey Wood & illustrated by Bruce Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2004

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This charming, colorful counting tale of ten little fish runs full-circle. Although the light verse opens and closes with ten fish swimming in a line, page-by-page the line grows shorter as the number of fish diminishes one-by-one. One fish dives down, one gets lost, one hides, and another takes a nap until a single fish remains. Then along comes another fish to form a couple and suddenly a new family of little fish emerges to begin all over. Slick, digitally-created images of brilliant marine flora and fauna give an illusion of underwater depth and silence enhancing the verse’s numerical and theatrical progression. The holistic story bubbles with life’s endless cycle. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-439-63569-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FULL MOON AT THE NAPPING HOUSE
by Audrey Wood ; illustrated by Don Wood

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BIRTHDAY QUEEN
by Audrey Wood ; illustrated by Don Wood

- BOOK REVIEW
IT'S DUFFY TIME!
by Audrey Wood & illustrated by Don Wood

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HAPPY EASTER FROM THE CRAYONS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023

Let these crayons go back into their box.

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The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.

Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)