Don't judge a book by it's cover, right? Well what about the title? Green is admittedly my favorite color, so when I saw the title of this book I had to take a peek. I am happy to say it was an excellent judgement.
The cover art work was another tip-off. Classically smooth and glossy, yes, but the textured brush strokes of the all green painting make you want to dive right into the book, which of course I did. Leafing through the pages I could tell this book was different. Like many children's picture books the colors were bright and engaging, and I could see that the painting style established in the cover art continued through out. But that's not what was different.
Many of the descriptions of the book I read described it as a concept children's book. After the first read through I can see why. In terms of wordage the book if fairly light, the only text in book is the the word green, preceded by an adjective. With this lack of words the real story telling is left to images on the pages, and I have to say, they do the job rather nicely.
What really got me though were the dye cut, cut-outs on each page. Thematic to each painting, the cut-outs acted like little portals to the next page, giving the book a a fun interactive quality. A lot like pop-up books or books with parts that open and close, but without the impending destruction factor.
To mix it up author and artist Laura Vaccaro Seeger shows us what the world is like sans my favorite color. Although pretty, I sincerely want to see what the next type of green will be.
Luckily I didn't have to wait long, the last kind of green was the best kind of green, the kind you plant yourself, the kind that lasts "forever".
This book is different, but in a really great way. I can certainly see why it recently received a Caldecott Honor Award. I loved almost the whole thing, except for the "pea green" page. Call me picky, but I think it was more the color of pea soup, than of fresh from the garden green peas, but that's just me.
I would highly recommend this book for any little reader. And for the adults reading this? The lovely artwork is more than enough to keep you entertained along the way.
~ Jordan
*Last time in Books and Stories: Spring Reading
