What's Your Favorite Color?

May 1, 2017
Carle's latest collection of compositions by artistic friends--assembled to support his eponymous museum--celebrates the splendor of color. The rainbow of stripes on the endpapers links this with Bill Martin Jr. and Carle's blockbuster, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, although here the brushstrokes are vertical. Carle leads with yellow sunshine, partially, he notes, because the color presents a process-related challenge, while Uri Shulevitz honors all colors in his concluding collage of architectural facades: "Because a single color may feel lonely." From William Low's Bronx brownstones and Etienne Delessert's surreal indigo nomad to Bryan Collier's rainy-day-blue balloons and the late Anna Dewdney's (now especially poignant) purple peacocks, 15 double-page spreads and a few accompanying sentences offer access to a diverse range of styles and personalities. A familiar-looking elephant adorns itself with green paint in Philip C. Stead's scene, which he accompanies with a poem. The white background of Yuyi Morales' crosshatched portrait of herself as a child presents a striking contrast to the "Mexican Pink" bougainvillea she holds. This title offers visual stimulation to the very young, a chance to explore a concept imaginatively with preschoolers, and, for older children, opportunities to converse about the styles and dispositions of illustrators they may recognize. There are no notes about the media, but this is a minor critique. A book certain to engross and enthrall. (biographies, photographs, websites) (Picture book. 2-8)

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Starred review from April 1, 2017
PreS-Gr 2-Carle and 14 other picture book artists share their favorite colors through memories, poems, and child-friendly snippets in this collection of testimonials. Despite the emphasis on the visuals, text and illustrations in each spread are equally strong. From Philip C. Stead's gentle ode to the many shades of green to Jill McElmurry's tactile imagining of a cool black garden, the entries each offer different perspectives. A few contributors provide insight into the artistic process by speaking to the properties of the colors they admire. Carle loves -the challenge- of yellow, which muddies immediately if mixed with another color. Melissa Sweet lauds the many moods of the color gray, while Rafael LÓpez appreciates the way in which the hue works in harmony with other colors. Other artists express simple statements of affection that will resonate with child audiences. Mike Curato's joyous illustration of a raccoon holding a cone piled high with ice cream that's his favorite color, mint (as in mint chocolate chip), is a unique take that will get budding artists thinking outside the box. Though the focus is on individual colors, the illustrations are far from monochromatic. Carle's bright yellow sun smiling on a white background is more the exception than the rule: William Low's busy Bronx streets glow with myriad tans, beiges, and deep chocolates of brick buildings, and Lauren Castillo's thick oil paints depict a tangible frosting of white snow over the deep greens and blues of a forest night scene. VERDICT A creative collection to savor one-on-one or to spark classroom art and writing exercises.-Chelsea Couillard-Smith, Hennepin County Library, MN

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2017
Grades K-3 Carle and 14 other illustrators respond with words and art when prompted to identify their favorite colors. Carle loves the challenge of painting with yellow; Bryan Collier likes blue balloons; and purple reminds Anna Dewdney of a favorite outfit. Selections reflect flora (Jill McElmurry's black garden and Yuyi Morales' Mexican Pink bougainvillea flowers), fauna (Marc Martin's crimson rosella parrots and Frann Preston-Gannon's flaming orange tiger), and places (William Low's brown Bronx neighborhood, Melissa Sweet's Maine Morning Gray, Etienne Delessert's indigo-veiled Tuareg nomads, and Lauren Castillo's white snow). Some artists evade the question a bit (Raphael Lopez calls gray unique, Philip Stead depicts numerous green items, and Uri Shulevitz chooses all colors), while Mike Curato goes for the important stuffmint chocolate chip ice cream. The art is appealing and frameworthy, reflecting the various styles of the creators, and the text ranges from poster art to paragraphs to poetry. An inspiring resource for sparking creativity, which will pair nicely with Carle's Draw Me a Star (1992).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
Carle enlists a clutch of illustrators to answer the titular question. Mike Curato chooses mint ("I love mint chocolate chip ice cream"); Yuyi Morales, "Mexican pink" ("the color of bougainvillea flowers"); Uri Shulevitz, "all colors," because "a single color may feel lonely." The artists display their choices in a variety of media. Yes, it's something of a coffee-table book, but a beautiful one for sure.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2017
Carle enlists another clutch of illustrators to once again benefit The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (What's Your Favorite Animal?, rev. 1/14). Carle himself answers the titular question with yellow ( It's a challenge for me ); Mike Curato chooses mint ( because I love mint chocolate chip ice cream ); Yuyi Morales, Mexican pink ( the color of bougainvillea flowers ). Eleven more artists announce and display their choices in a variety of media, with Uri Shulevitz closing the volume with all colors, because a single color may feel lonely. Yes, it's something of a coffee-table book, but a beautiful one for sure. roger Sutton

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)