'In SPRING, /Red sings/from treetops: /'cheer-cheer-cheer', /each note dropping/like a cherry/into my ear.' At first Green is shy, but in summer 'Green is queen.' 'In fall, Yellow grows wheels/and lumbers/down the block, /blinking: /'Warningclassrooms ahead',' and in winter 'Gray and Brown hold hands.' Sidman encourages readers to experience color with all of the senses.

PreS-Gr 3Through the seasons, this book personifies colors, starting with a red bird in early spring and concluding with it as winter ends. '(Mar.)' Copyright 2009 Publishers Weekly Used with permission. The effect is evocative of primitive antiques: fleur-de-lis, checkered print and scrawled calligraphy abound, creating an artfulif, at times, preciousdisplay that works in tandem with the gentle musings of the imagistic verse. Broad swathes of color compose the seasonal palettes, juxtaposed with painstakingly precise designs. Fall strikes a more melancholy tone: the wind feels black: / star-spangled, / full of secrets, as an enormous whale blends into the nightscape. In spring, pink is hairless, / featherless, / the color of/ new/ things, while in summer, the youth finds a companion whose headpiece is a cross between a crown and a cowboy hat (filled with fish, no less), and the two royal personages indulge in popcorn and lemonade on the dock of a bay. An androgynous crowned youth, dressed ornately in triangular apparel, plays host as colors are woven into unrhymed poetry.

By Grade + Interest - K to 1st By Grade + Interest - 2nd to 3rd By Grade + Interest - 4th to 5thĪnthropomorphized colors take charge in this fanciful book in praise of the seasons, from the collaborators behind 'This Is Just to Say'.

Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman