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GREEN SAYS GO

Name: GREEN SAYS GO
Author: Ed Emberley

by Ed Emberley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 1968

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Ed Emberley, who thinks color habitually, here teaches color specifically: what it is, what it says, what it stands for. In a text that could hardly be more precise or apt, and illustrations that honestly exploit the mechanical medium ("This book is printed in red, yellow, blue and black on white paper"), he presents the three primaries, blends the three secondaries, lightens and darkens them—accompanied by asides on nomenclature (pink, not light red; gray, not light black) and the net results ("Are you surprised that brown is just dark orange?"). The color signals of a changing traffic light, of ambulance and police car, of port and starboard (on ships and planes) are ingeniously illustrated in the style of One Wide River. . . : then come the color-keyed states of mind ("I'm purple with rage," etc.) via tragi-comic cartoons complete to balloons. Concluding characteristically is a ghostly Halloween galaxy, a Victorian-type Christmas tree. Vivid instruction with a sense of humor—a top value in the wide spectrum of color books.

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1968

- BOOK REVIEW
SPARE PARTS
by Rebecca Emberley ; illustrated by Ed Emberley

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ITSY BITSY SPIDER
illustrated by Rebecca Emberley ; Ed Emberley ; developed by Little Bahalia Publishing

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CROCODILE AND THE SCORPION
by Ed Emberley ; illustrated by Rebecca Emberley

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BETTER THAN A TOUCHDOWN

by Jalen Hurts ; illustrated by Nneka Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2026

Earnest and well meaning but not quite a touchdown.

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In Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Hurts’ motivational picture book, a youngster rebounds from disappointment.

As Jalen heads off on his first day of school, he daydreams about joining the football team, but his friend Trey soon breaks the bad news. The garden club needed more space for vegetables, so the football field was used for planting. There will be no football this year. Jalen is despondent, but his teachers Mrs. Lee and Mr. Barry and bodega owner Mr. Muhammad offer guidance that spurs him and his friends into positive action. They work to flip a nearby empty lot into a football field, with Jalen echoing his mentors’ adages. Once the field is complete, Jalen feels a swell of pride in his and his friends’ work. While the idea of kids working together to effect change is a laudable one, the bland, wordy storytelling won’t inspire young people or hold their attention. Tired, cliched inspirational comments peppered throughout often slow down the narrative, and many adult readers will find the premise—a school dropping a high-interest sports program in favor of a community garden—wildly unrealistic. Though the illustrations are colorful, with a Disney Junior charm, strange stylistic choices, such as signs with odd combinations of scribbles instead of letters, give them an unpolished look. Like Hurts, Jalen is Black; his community is diverse.

Earnest and well meaning but not quite a touchdown. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 10, 2026

ISBN: 9798217040308

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Flamingo Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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HOW TO CATCH THE EASTER BUNNY

From the How To Catch… series

by Adam Wallace ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2017

This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.

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The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.

The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.

This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)