Nancy Tafuri's newest book combines
farm animals with a color concept for
a winning read-aloud kids will love!
From Publishers Weekly: (Starred Review)
“Farmer Gray’s homestead is as colorless as his name—even the sky and grass are gray. So, while he’s away for the day, Blue Goose, Red Hen, Yellow Chick and White Duck get some paint and undertake a barnyard makeover. First they cover a few things in their signature colors—and what they redecorate can be surprising: “White Duck painted the fence white. And Yellow Chick painted all the flowers yellow.” Next the animals mix the different colors (e.g., yellow and blue make green for the grass.) With a little teamwork, they’re even able to paint the sun yellow (this image requires vertical format so readers can fully savor the effort involved). Tafuri’s (The Busy Little Squirrel) animal cast is creative, confident and diligent—there are no pratfalls into paint cans, no falling off of ladders. But the veteran author is more visually playful here than usual: the scenes have the bold, graphic punch of murals. As always, her generously sized animals and pithy text extend a warm welcome to readers, and make this celebration of color ideal for sharing either one-on-one or with a group
From Booklist:
Blue Goose,Red Hen,Yellow Chick,and White Duck all pitch in to paint the barnyard,which first appears in black,white,and gray.Each bird has a brush and a can
of paint.After making the fence white,the flowers yellow,the barn red,and the roof blue,they mix their
hues to create purple for the doors,orange for the
shutters,and in a leap of imagination,light blue for
the sky and green for the grass and trees.After a few strokes of cooperative genius,the job is done.The simple,clearly written story leaves room for discussion
when reading the book aloud,while the clean lines of the drawings as well as the large scale and varied
composition of the ink,gouache,and pencil illustrations
make them effective to share with groups of children.
An appealing introduction to primary and secondary colors.
From School Library Journal:
PreS-Gr 1
While Farmer Gray is away, Blue Goose, Red Hen, Yellow Chick, and White Duck set out to paint their colorless barnyard. Reminiscent of Ellen Stoll Walsh's Mouse Paint (Harcourt, 1989), the animals begin by working alone, then pair up to fill in the white spaces for purple doors, orange shutters, and green grass. That evening, when the grinning farmer returns, all that's left to do is for Blue Goose to paint everything a dreamy nighttime blue-except the moon, of course. Done in brush pen, watercolor pencils, gouache, and ink, Tafuri's realistic illustrations evoke a calming pastoral setting. The critters are depicted in textured hues, making them stand out among the newly painted backdrops. This quiet celebration of team spirit and color concepts along with oversized scenes, straight forward narrative, and endearing characters are ideal for storytime sharing.
