Another Great Earth Day Book: The Great Big Green

Ready for some Earth Day riddles? And a different take on "going green"?

The Great Big Green
by Peggy Gifford; illus. by Lisa Desimini
32 pages; ages 4-7
Boyds Mills Press, 2014

What's really big and green? Not sure? Then follow the clues in this lyrical, poetic, perfect-for-Earth-Day book which begins:

The thing is,
the thing is green.
And the green is,
the green is green.

Confession: green is was not my favorite color. Until I opened the pages and discovered "dragon green", and "anaconda green", "turtle green" and "tornado green". I'm a gardener, and while I appreciate the subtle differences between "grass green" and "kale green" and "ears-not-quite-ripe-corn green" I never really thought about them belonging to the same family as the crayon-box green. They don't - and neither do the other amazing greens captured in this puzzle-poem book. The pages are full of details that will keep you looking - and bring you back to look some more.

But there's more than natural greens captured in these pages. There's a green door, socks, traffic lights and a snippet of a familiar folk song (with a title containing "green" in it).  And at the very end, when you have all the clues, you might possibly guess what this very green thing is. I won't give it away, but I will say that the last page is a wonderful surprise.

Click over to Archimedes Notebook for an Earth Day scavenger hunt - and other activities and resources this week. Review copy provided by the publisher.