Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors

by Joyce Sidman and Pamela Zagarenski

“In FALL…Brown, / fat and glossy, rises in honking flocks. / Brown rustles... read more

“In FALL…Brown, / fat and glossy, rises in honking flocks. / Brown rustles and whispers underfoot… Red splashes fall trees / seeps into every vein / of every five-fingered leaf… Yellow grows wheels / and lumbers / down the block, blinking: / Warning—classrooms ahead. ” Joyce Sidman uses rich and vivid imagery as she describes colors in terms of sights and sounds and activities of the seasons. The result is a lyrical picture book that is a delight to read or hear, and a natural launching point to inspire descriptive writing. Sidman’s observations are playfully acute, with associations that will surprise and delight readers and listeners as the juxtapose familiarity and inventiveness. “In Summer, / White clinks in drinks. Yellow melts / everything it touches… / smells like butter, / tastes like salt.” Pamela Zagarenski’s whimsical illustrations accompany Sidman’s words. (Ages 4–8)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2010

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