Blue (Images Series) - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 1. Sharp full-color photographs on clean white pages are softened by borders of wavy streaks of paint. In Blue, the author's choice to focus on a single color works well. Most books on color cover the rainbow, plus some extra, and this narrowing of the field will provide variety for teachers and parents searching for new ways to teach color. Socks, beach toys, and washcloths are joined by the unique inclusion of a blue jeep and tractor. A clear, intense shade dominates, but purples, blue-grays, and violets appear in flowers and plastic tableware. A two-page spread of buttons shows variety in shades from pale to navy blues. Texture, the more challenging concept, gets in-depth treatment: smooth and rough, soft and hard, wet and dry, spiky, knobby, ridged, and scaly. Readers see "rough" tree bark and a cheese grater, then the close-cousin texture "spiky" as a cactus and a distinctly spiky fish. "Wet" shows bubbles, orange juice, paints, and ketchup; "dry" translates into non-wet. Included are simple explanations, identifying labels, and interactive questions such as, "Here are some blue toys. Do you have any blue toys?" Beginning readers can practice on the easy-to-read texts. Two high-quality concept books.?Jacqueline Elsner, Athens Regional Library, GA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Blue ($10.95; paper $4.95; Nov. 1996; 24 pp.; 0-382-39590-5; paper 0-382-39626-X): In the Images series, a concept book that may have trouble holding its own in a crowded field of similar children's books. A superfluous table of contents (``Birds,'' ``On the beach'') prefaces full-color spreads that present blue items collected in various categories. The objects--socks, buttons, bowl- -are not always easy to recognize; the ``breakfast'' items are fairly purple, and some baby items are gray. The text lacks imagination: ``Here are some blue flowers.'' (glossary, index) (Picture book. 3-5) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.