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Green is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors, by Roseanne Thong, illustrations by John Parra, 2014, San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. 40 pages. ISBN: 978-1452102030.
Age/Interest Level: 4-7 years
Lexile Level: AD540L
Awards: Pura Belpré Award Nominee for Illustration (2015)
Reader Annotation: A young girl explores all that she can see in her Latino neighborhood. Along the way, she discovers how bright and wonderful the colors are.
Plot Summary: A young girl and boy walk around their neighborhood and town, describing all of the fantastic colors they see along the way. Told through rhyme, vivid images are pointed out, such as, “Green are the cornstalks. Green are the pails. Green is a bench for abuela's tales." Each spread also includes the Spanish translation for the colors listed, promoting bilingualism and aiding to expand vocabulary.
Critical Evaluation: This work takes the traditional idea of an American concept book and furthers it. The concept of learning colors is still presented, but it’s furthered with its approach to bilingualism. The addition of Spanish translations are done tastefully and are not shoehorned in. This is a book for Latino children, but with universal concepts, and the added glossary of terms at the back of the book is beneficial to older readers. A concept book with colors cannot function without solid illustrations, and here the work by John Parra is stunning. The backgrounds present a muted palate which pop with the thriving color presented on each spread.
Why Included: This is a concept book with universal appeal, but which targets a market that is hardly targeted. It is a fantastic work about colors with stunning illustrations and a great, rhythmic text.
Age/Interest Level: 4-7 years
Lexile Level: AD540L
Awards: Pura Belpré Award Nominee for Illustration (2015)
Reader Annotation: A young girl explores all that she can see in her Latino neighborhood. Along the way, she discovers how bright and wonderful the colors are.
Plot Summary: A young girl and boy walk around their neighborhood and town, describing all of the fantastic colors they see along the way. Told through rhyme, vivid images are pointed out, such as, “Green are the cornstalks. Green are the pails. Green is a bench for abuela's tales." Each spread also includes the Spanish translation for the colors listed, promoting bilingualism and aiding to expand vocabulary.
Critical Evaluation: This work takes the traditional idea of an American concept book and furthers it. The concept of learning colors is still presented, but it’s furthered with its approach to bilingualism. The addition of Spanish translations are done tastefully and are not shoehorned in. This is a book for Latino children, but with universal concepts, and the added glossary of terms at the back of the book is beneficial to older readers. A concept book with colors cannot function without solid illustrations, and here the work by John Parra is stunning. The backgrounds present a muted palate which pop with the thriving color presented on each spread.
Why Included: This is a concept book with universal appeal, but which targets a market that is hardly targeted. It is a fantastic work about colors with stunning illustrations and a great, rhythmic text.