Carmine, A Little More Red

Ruby

Vermillion

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Rust

Cerise

Today’s color: Red. As in Carmine: A Little More Red, by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin, 2005).

Theme: being aware of your environment

This is a retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood” with a fun twist: it’s an alphabet book that introduces luscious language into the vocabulary of young children. Also, the wolf doesn’t eat Grandma, and the woodcutter is nowhere near. Set in contemporary time – Carmine (Red) rides a bike and keeps in touch with Grandma by phone.

Opening: “Carmine had a beloved granny who taught her how to read by making Alphabet soup.” The story follows 26 words in alphabetical order. Next comes beware – as in: come visit me, but be careful and no stopping on the way. Unfortunately, Carmine does indeed dilly-dally, because the light was exquisite, and she wanted to paint a picture for granny.

Why I like this Book: I love the twists and turns in the story. While Carmine paints her picture, a wolf interrogates her dog about the path to Grandma’s house, because she needs food for her pups. In this tale, the woodcutter does not hear Granny’s calls for help, because he’s off with three pigs discussing floor plans for wolf-proof houses. And at the very end, when Carmine rescues Granny from the closet, Granny reminds her that she’s been told a zillion times not to dawdle – and then hangs her painting on the wall. Seriously – what kid can resist all those fun words?

Plus – there’s a recipe for Granny’s alphabet soup at the back.

Beyond the Book:

Go on a color hike and see how many different shades of your favorite fall color you can find. If your color is green, look at different kinds of leaves, grass, moss, lichens. If it’s yellow, check out the leaves, flowers, and insects you see. Collect a sample of each color and create a color palette when you get home – or use paint to create the different colors you see.

Go on a field trip to a paint store and look at the paint cards with all the different shades of your color. Who knew that there are 30 kinds of almost-white?

For more ideas, check out the teacher guide that Melissa Sweet created. It is chock-full of activities across the curriculum. 

Today's review is part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copy obtained from a library.

Blue Chicken

The leaves are turning, so this week I’m celebrating art and color. Today’s color: blue. As in … Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman (Viking, 2011)

There is so much to love about this book – from the visual jokes (a red wheelbarrow, white chickens) to the minimalist text to the “oops!” of things-gone-wrong-while-trying-to-help. Imagine: a nearly finished drawing left on the artist’s table. It’s a pastoral scene – a barn with a cow and cat, a coop with chickens resting inside and, resting in front, the infamous wheelbarrow.

Also on the table:  two pots of paint, one red, one blue, and a jar with water and two brushes.

The book begins, “ “At Last! This picture is almost finished. The chickens are white, their coop is brown… and this day is perfect for painting the barn.” And who should want to help, but one of the chickens. She tips over the blue paint pot and turns everything blue – except those odd green patches on the ducklings (yellow + blue).

Chicken tries to undo the blue by adding water, but the entire jar spills and everything is a wash. Everything gets cleaned up except for the sky which, the animals agree, should stay blue. So there we are, a beautiful blue sky day “that is perfect for painting the barn.” 

But where is that white chicken? She's not back in the coop. No, she's lurking behind the pot of red paint with one of the ducklings. Nothing to see here.... just turn the page. When you do, you find some very wet & tired red ducklings – and one red chicken – looking out the window at a newly painted barn. Red, of course.

This is a fun fantasy about characters that won’t stay on their page, and colors that won't stay inside the lines. But watch out! Reading this book might result in kids grabbing paints and brushes, and then who knows what chaos will ensue..

Review copy from library.

Fox Forgets

Fox Forgets
by Suzanne Bloom
32 pages; ages 2 - 6
Boyds Mills Press, 2013

I love Goose and Bear, and now there's a brand new book about these "splendid friends" and their friend Fox. Goose has to go off somewhere, but will be right back. "Be sure to tell Bear," she says as she waves goodbye to Fox. When Fox finds Bear, she's forgotten all about Goose. All Fox wants to do is play, play, play. All Bear wants to do is look for his good friend, Goose.

Let's play Looking for Goose, says Fox. But no Goose. Fox suggests checkers, but Bear is distracted. Fox know she has to tell Bear something Very Important - but can't remember what.

This is plain fun for kids because, who hasn't forgotten to pass on an Important Message? It's also fun for adults to read because, who hasn't forgotten where he's put the car keys, or put a box of crackers in the refrigerator and the cream cheese in the cracker tin by mistake?

And like the other Splendid Friends books, Suzanne fills Fox Forgets with luscious illustrations, full of rich color and fun details - but at the same time spare enough to invite a child's imagination to roam free.

Review copy provided by publisher.