May Gibbs Colours

Scholastic, Australia: September 2011

ISBN: 9781742830421

Genres: picture book, board book

Issues: environment

'Gold sunrise glows. Silver morning star. Red ladybirds crawl.'

Using May Gibbs' famous illustrations, Scholastic introduces pre-readers to fourteen colours using short, evocative sentences that link the various shades not only with objects but also emotions.

The board book format has a cloth binding on the spine which, combined with Gibbs' well-known images, makes a hard-wearing but classy-looking volume that will appeal to children but also makes it a high quality gift. Introducing toddlers to an iconic Australian illustrator so young in life is a great way to stimulate a later interest in the classic Snugglepot & Cuddlepie. The text uses more complex vocabulary than is common in such books, making it usable for early primary children with reading problems or even for ESL work.

Charming.