I Like This Color!

February 15, 2023
A duck and chicken argue over what color the page should be. Both birds agree their white background needs color, but Cluck favors orange, while Duck prefers pink. Illustrations and text that makes heavy use of alliteration guide beginning readers through longer words--tangerines, fabulous, flamingos--as each makes a case for their chosen color. In a sequence accompanied by onomatopoeia, they try to settle things by shoving flowers--an orange tiger lily and a pink carnation--in each other's faces. Finally, they split the book along the gutter, Cluck painting the left side orange while Duck colors the right pink. But Cluck accidentally colors orange on Duck's side; in an attempt to fix it, Duck paints over it, and suddenly we see a new, blended color. A short rainstorm blurs the colors more, and the end result reminds a passing alligator of a sunset in the Everglades. The fowl friends offer the appreciative gator their "canvas" and roll it off the panel's background. But that leaves them where they started, with a "dull and dreary" page--to Duck's consternation, in a stinger joke, Cluck wants to paint it orange. Spare text, with speech bubbles and plenty of sound effects, make this ideal for youngsters still mastering reading, while the playful metafiction will keep them giggling. Fowl play in a format calibrated for its young audience. (Early reader. 5-8)

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