bookshelf

GREEN SAYS GO

Name: GREEN SAYS GO
Author: Ed Emberley

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

FAMILIES BELONG

by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020

A joyful celebration.

bookshelf

Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.

The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.

A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WE SHARE THIS SCHOOL
by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart

- BOOK REVIEW
FAMILIES GROW
by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart

- BOOK REVIEW
FAMILIES CAN
by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart

bookshelf

OTIS

From the Otis series

by Loren Long & illustrated by Loren Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2009

bookshelf

Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)