Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

Fishes, feathers, birds, bugs, vegetables, fruits, and flowers populate this homage to seven colors.This French import begins with red, as spectrums often do. A handful of floating dots in slightly different sizes and slightly different red shades sits across from a cardinal and a red maple leaf. Next, the matte white background hosts a juicy variety of red creatures and fruits, spaced companionably across the spread: raspberries, chili pepper, pomegranate, crayfish, ladybug. Orange gets the same treatment, then yellow, blue, green, black, and white. (No purple, which is fine; no brown, which is sad.) Blue, yellow, and green vary the most in shade, value, and intensity-the blue dots range from green-blue to dark indigo, the greens from tertiary lime to dark, low-saturation spruce. While the other colors should show a wider range, every spread is gorgeous, tempting and entrancing, evoking delicious tastes and nature scents. A small heap of turmeric looks like powder on the page; the skin of a Gala apple has the exquisite lines and glinting dots of a real Gala, darkening at the apple's curves. Subtle puckers and folds paint an orange that could be plucked off the page and peeled. A gray pebble in the "white" section (this part has the only black background, for offset) could be just dried from the beach.The vivid richness and fine visual detail will bring young readers back again and again. (Picture book. 2-6)

ALA Booklist (Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

In this English-language edition of the 2020 French title, spare text, lovely pictures, and sundry flowers, vegetables, wildlife, and more showcase both the color spectrum and nature's diversity. Each color section opens the same way, first showing circles in related tints and shades, followed by labeled illustrations of examples of that color in nature. Red features a cardinal, pomegranates, and crayfish. Orange includes a showy hibiscus; yellow, a fluffy chick and corn. After blue and green, the pages somewhat surprisingly turn to black (ostrich feather, olives) and white (dove, pebbles). Realistically rendered gouache illustrations, in appealingly browsable layouts, highlight the selections against blank space, while the white images are dramatically set off against saturated black. Though the approach and presentation seem geared to younger kids, some complex words may call for extra assistance, like electus parrot, chanterelles, or cauliflower. Still, the vibrant visuals and consistent format have appeal, and children will enjoy recognizing and identifying some familiar items and have their interests piqued by others.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Fishes, feathers, birds, bugs, vegetables, fruits, and flowers populate this homage to seven colors.This French import begins with red, as spectrums often do. A handful of floating dots in slightly different sizes and slightly different red shades sits across from a cardinal and a red maple leaf. Next, the matte white background hosts a juicy variety of red creatures and fruits, spaced companionably across the spread: raspberries, chili pepper, pomegranate, crayfish, ladybug. Orange gets the same treatment, then yellow, blue, green, black, and white. (No purple, which is fine; no brown, which is sad.) Blue, yellow, and green vary the most in shade, value, and intensity-the blue dots range from green-blue to dark indigo, the greens from tertiary lime to dark, low-saturation spruce. While the other colors should show a wider range, every spread is gorgeous, tempting and entrancing, evoking delicious tastes and nature scents. A small heap of turmeric looks like powder on the page; the skin of a Gala apple has the exquisite lines and glinting dots of a real Gala, darkening at the apple's curves. Subtle puckers and folds paint an orange that could be plucked off the page and peeled. A gray pebble in the "white" section (this part has the only black background, for offset) could be just dried from the beach.The vivid richness and fine visual detail will bring young readers back again and again. (Picture book. 2-6)