Jorge Lujan, illustrated by Piet Groble; .translated by John Oliver Simon and Rebecca Parfitt,
Colors! Colores!
Groundwood Books/ Libros Tigrillo, 2008.

Rating: E*

Colors! Colores! Is a perfect blend of edutainment. At the turn of each page there is a short poem describing a colour in a very creative way. Instead of simply choosing common objects, Lujan focuses on the writing and lets the colour speak for itself through the words and the watercolour illustrations. He wraps the colours in words so that the reader understands exactly what the it looks like. Pink is seen as the colour of a "little girl’s nose" and blue is "all in the sky, except for those flowers and the little girl’s eyes." This way of writing allows children to really grasp the beauty of words while enjoying the beauty of the art filled pages.

As this is a bilingual book, children can also learn some Spanish words or vice versa. Each poem is fully presented in both English and Spanish. Each colour is highlighted in bold print and in the hue it represents, making the translation obvious. This book is great for children reading at the Grade 1 level but can be fully enjoyed by older children who want to read poems or learn Spanish.

Thematic Links: Colours; Bilingualism; Spanish

Rachelle Gooden
Vol. 14, number 1
October 2008

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.