Monday, November 20, 2006

The Color Kittens

The Color Kittens
by Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen

Ages : 3-6


Margaret Wise Brown is one of my all time favorite authors. Her 'Goodnight Moon' needs no introduction! Its the rite of passage for any book loving child and parent.

So a week ago, when I found myself, quite by accident, in the B shelves, her name caught my immediate attention, and I started extracting all the books I could find.

The Color Kittens is one of them! I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, judging by the cover alone, but my faith in the author carried me through and what a delightful surprise it was!
In essence, when you open to the first page of the book, you immediately enter the world of colors, through the two color loving kittens Brush and Hush. They have buckets and buckets of colors to splash around with, and with these they want to make all the colours of the world.

Getting into the drift of the book now?

Yes, it is a good introduction to the concept that our basic colors can be mixed to get a variety of new colors. So don't be surprised if your child, after reading this book with you, wants to go find her brushes and paints and do a little experimenting of her own. It makes YOU want to do the same!

Now every good book, to be a good book, has to have a tangible problem that needs to be solved. Well, what's the problem here? Brush and Hush looooove the color green, because nearly every place they liked to go to was green. But they don't know how to make some green paint.

So they try. And end up with a totally unexpected color. But they don't give up. They try again. But no luck....its a new color yet again, but still no green. Then, almost by accident..........well I shall go no further, otherwise it would kill the suspense and mystery of the book for you. :)

So I'll just say this on a parting note........the words are delightful and in places flow in prose form, which is fanciful to a child's ears. The illustrations are simple and yet catchy. The colors themselves are pretty, as only colors can be.....and the rest I leave to you to find out, through the eyes of your child.

Enjoy yourself with The Color Kittens!

6 comments:

Praba Ram said...

LOVE IT! What a cute book, and a nicely written review!
Love MWB's Goodnight Moon - it was a gift from a friend for my daughter's first birthday.
Color Kittens is sure to click with my daughter considering she loves playing with paints, and kittens & cats (she has a bunch of stuffed ones!)

An honor to have you on ST! It's great to be able to make new friends, and connect based on common interests - isn't it?
Bye!

Praba

Tharini said...

Thanks Praba. Glad to know that your daughter will like this book.

I am thrilled to have this opportunity to write about children's books......it was fun writing that post.

Anonymous said...

This blog is really going great. Glas to see it evolve with more contributors. Good work!htt

FH said...

What a fun book! I used to read that 'Goodnight Moon' book to my kids when they were young.

Thanks for this, have a great weekend.

Anusha said...

I brought this book home simply to find out how the kittens made green :) :) Yet to read it to K - think he will love the colors! Thanks for a well written review!

Anonymous said...

Fifty-two years ago I read this book - over, and over, and over again. When I was reading, I was in my own little world with Brush and Hush. I remember feeling different emotions for each of the colors and to this day can "feel" the somber purple of that page.

springergirl1

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