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GRAY

This wise charmer will help brighten readers’ feelings.

Color words signal emotions.

Children understand that colors often suggest feelings: The brighter the hues, the happier the sentiments. As this book opens, a kid looks out forlornly and announces, “Today, I am gray.” The illustrations confirm it, as do the child’s explanations: “I don’t feel sunshine yellow or orange balloon bright or treetop green.” Not even “night sky black.” Everyone’s had days when they feel like “the scribble on a page,” “the storm in the clouds,” “the puddle in the road,” “the tea when it’s gone cold.” The protagonist says that it’s OK to feel gray, as if all the colors have gone; you don’t have to be bright every day. The good news is…storm clouds that bring rain also bring splashy puddles and the sun. And while you may feel gray like the sidewalk, later you can scribble on it…using whatever colors you choose! Better yet is a loving parent telling you, “All of these colors are your feelings…and each one of them is still inside you.” The best news is a parent saying “I love you however you are feeling…and my love won’t change, even when you’re gray.” Kids will warm to this sweet, understated U.K. import and feel heartened by the caregiver’s comforting reassurances. Youngsters should feel their own moods, notoriously mercurial in childhood, validated. The mixed-media illustrations are appealingly childlike—and, unsurprisingly—colorful. Parent and child have lightly tanned skin.

This wise charmer will help brighten readers’ feelings. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: May 7, 2024

ISBN: 9781536235463

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024

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LOVE FROM THE CRAYONS

As ephemeral as a valentine.

Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.

Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.

As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021

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THE WORLD NEEDS THE WONDER YOU SEE

Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.

Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.

There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”

Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025

ISBN: 9781400247417

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tommy Nelson

Review Posted Online: today

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025

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