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MY FAVORITE COLOR

I CAN ONLY PICK ONE?

No matter what your favorite color, this rainbow ode is sure to brighten your day.

A lively rumination on the merits of different colors—and can one ever pick a favorite?

In this exuberant follow-up to his outstanding You Are Light (2019), Becker returns to the glorious medium of translucent vinyl inserts that allow colors to shine and meld. Based on a discussion about favorite colors, this board book is less poetically sweeping than its predecessor. Yet the topic of what color reigns supreme is a perennial favorite among the preschool crowd, making this nicely accessible for young audiences. Starting with the premise that “my favorite color is yellow,” a white page shows 25 differently tinted sunny yellow squares. On the following page, the narrator muses that it’s really “yellow, like the sun in a clear blue sky” and various blues are sprinkled about the gold and cream swatches. The narrator simply must then amend their favorite color to blue. As the book discusses the best parts of all the rainbow colors, there’s an ultimate conclusion. Choosing a favorite color? “Impossible!” Lyrical musings such as “ripples on an emerald sea” or the black-backgrounded “purple hues of night” create vivid verbal images that bring the colorful squares to life. The sturdy translucent inserts work together magnificently, layering to create an unexpected richness of color.

No matter what your favorite color, this rainbow ode is sure to brighten your day. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5362-1474-1

Page Count: 16

Publisher: Candlewick Studio

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020

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ANIMAL SHAPES

Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.

You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!

What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?

Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: March 27, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little Bee Books

Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

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YOUR FOREST

From the Your Places series

Pure unmitigated sleepy-time pleasure.

Klassen’s inimitable blend of cozy and curious is on flagrant display in this tale of personalized forest management.

“This is your sun. It is coming up for you.” Klassen allows the youngest of readers to put together a beguiling woodland scene. Each object in the forest is bedecked with the deadpan eyes the artist is known for. Like other titles in the series, this one presents typical items (trees, rocks, a stream), but it distinguishes itself by including a solitary forest ghost who “is nice. He only comes out at night.” It’s a tiny yet whimsical detail that imbues the tale with an enchanting sense of unpredictability. When day shifts to night, readers are assured that “this is your forest. Now it is done.” The sun sinks, and they’re treated to a surreal scene as all the items appear to doze off: “Now everyone is closing their eyes.” Happily, the ghost has a brief solo moment on the very edge of the forest on the final page. Readers will experience both the comfort of putting a community of anthropomorphized objects to sleep and the power of creating it in the first place.

Pure unmitigated sleepy-time pleasure. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025

ISBN: 9781536230833

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024

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