TEN MILLION COLOURS!

Bradley’s illustrated picture book encourages young readers to discover all the possibilities that the rainbow has to offer.

The rainbow’s seven basic colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—are shown to be the keys to unlocking many more shades that make the world vibrant. The first combinations involve primary colors: Blue and yellow make green, as seen on the leaves of a tree or a tortoise’s body, while blue and red result in the indigo of a queen’s dress and a butterfly’s wings. Yellow and red become orange, like a tiger. However, unlike many other introductory color books, this one combines red and orange (vermilion), green and yellow (lime), and many colors with black, to show subtle tones: “The more we stir, the more we mix, the more that we explore, the more we see our colours turn to many MILLIONS more!” Bradley’s book is a great way to introduce preschoolers and/or art students to the building blocks of color theory. Sometimes the text is confusingly formatted, as when the word white is barely visible on its background. However, the book’s interplay between text and illustration is generally visually effective. Particularly notable is Trazsi’s portrayal of blue and green waves flowing around text into a large teal sea.

A concise and educational dip into the artistic potential of color.