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"Colors, a First Book of Art:" by Lucy Micklethwait

Author:

Lucy Micklethwait

Publisher:

London: Francis Lincoln 2005

Reviewed by:

John Warren Stewig, Carthage College

Well-known to United States teachers and librarians, who have used her several books with children here, this introduces 18 works of art which emphasize particular colors. The art is mostly western (though two Asian pieces are included) and range in date from 1475 to 1982, a pleasantly, and useful range of time periods, thought nothing is made of that is this or the Wolfe book. A single piece of art of each page reproduced in full color makes careful viewing possible. A valuable feature is that facing pages feature two paintings, each of which was chosen to represent a particular color. For instance, a bowl of red cherries faces a portrait of a man in a red hat, and the two reds are distinctly different. So an alert adult could, on his/her own, ask children to notice the difference in the two colors of the same name. This could lead off into a color search in the classroom for all the other reds available. The only caveat is that one wishes the two paintings chosen for pink were more apparently that; one seems clearly magenta and the other vermillion.