Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
With endearing chattiness and nerdy enthusiasm, this poetic tribute to "the color between red and yellow" feels perfectly poised to turn readers into orange enthusiasts. Poliquin (I Am Wind) takes readers on a meandering journey that connects art, culture, geography, history, nature, and science while discussing orange's many manifestations ("This mineral is called crocoite. Isn't it magnificently orange?"). Readers learn that the word is rooted in a Tamil term referring to the fragrance of orange blossoms, then explore how orange plays a starring role in flags and observances, landmarks and works of art, and uniforms that range from spacesuits to monks' robes. Opaque watercolor, chalk pastel, and digital illustrations by Morstad (A Face Is a Poem) mix impressionistic vignettes with close-ups reminiscent of field notebook sketches, establishing a grounding visual tone that's calmly observant--all the better to let the central color strut its stuff. By the final page, readers, their eyes opened to orange's ubiquity, are likely to eagerly concur with the heart of the book's message: Orange you glad the title color is finally getting its due? Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 5--9. Author's agent: Amy Tompkins, Transatlantic Agency. Illustrator's agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3--In a book that is a tour de force through world history, the natural world, and cultural studies, the color orange becomes the focal point for a quick romp through languages, the arts, foods, memorials, flags, and holidays. The painterly drawings in this illustrated book begin with a quick look at different types of citruses--some common, some less so. It continues with an explanation of how the color came to be and the global trade that had to be in place for people to begin to have a word for the color. A section is dedicated to the science of paint pigments and famous art pieces from Mark Rothko and Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The book refers to the ritual of mourning in cultures around the color orange, such as the Mexican tradition for Día de Muertos and the Canada's September 30th commemoration of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children who were taken from their homes and sent to government schools. VERDICT With some uncommon words and packed with ideas, this compelling and humorous book lends itself as a read-aloud for early grades and is a must for all libraries.--Vi Ha
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A most unusual portrait of the color orange. Poliquin's epic journey opens, naturally, with an orange. Fast facts and anecdotes follow; though presented seemingly randomly, they coalesce into a rich exploration of the color through the lenses of culture, history, and nature. The rooster fromThe Canterbury Tales, "dreaming of a fox whose 'colour was betwixe yellow and reed,'" precedes a spread about how oranges originated in India and southern China, accompanied by an illustration of the fruits traveling to Europe. Next, the author tracks the evolution of the wordorange from the Tamil wordnaru, which means "fragrant." The tidbits in this quirky "field trip" bounce around, referencing Mark Rothko's paintingOrange and Yellow, the "International Orange" of American astronauts' space suits, the orange T-shirts Canadian youngsters wear annually to remember Indigenous children sent to government schools, Buddhist monks' robes, monarch butterflies, and marigolds in an Indian market. The coda to this tale culminates in a page of color theory, with Morstad providing a painterly palette of variations on the hue. Her artwork, relying on watercolor, chalk pastel, and digital rendering, has a vintage, painterly feel that visually binds this series of postcardlike vignettes. Poliquin's charmingly conversational prose is rife with asides that betray the author's genuine enthusiasm for her subject ("This mineral is called crocoite. Isn't it magnificently orange?"); readers will eagerly heed her advice to "find orange in your world." Witty, smart, and sophisticated.(Informational picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
