My big pink book of everything by Chez Picthall & Christina Gunzi - review

My big pink book of everything by Chez Picthall & Christina Gunzi - review
Ok, how can I not review this book? The blog is called Pink Me, for gosh sake, and, even though I don't automatically gravitate toward everything pink, there is the hair to consider. I get a lot of respect from little girls because of the hair. So I owe it to those kids to check this book out and decide whether it is offensive in its traipse through the gender-specific minefield, or whether it is largely innocuous, and will not set little girls off down the path that leads to brand-name materialism and low math scores.

Because that's what we're talking about. I don't care if some young thing ends up reading the It Girl books or the Clique novels, as long as she keeps reading something, and keeps coming to the library. As long as there are enough other messages in her life telling her that she is for more than gossip and shopping.

So, what does My big pink book of everything tell a girl that she is for? First of all, she is certainly a person who can learn her numbers, her colors, and her shapes. That's what this book is: an early learning book not unlike many others. Pinker. Populated entirely by girls. But perfectly serviceable. The "name the foods" page has lots of healthy things like cherries and tomatoes and cheese, but also cupcakes and a doughnut, which I think is nice. I always felt preached-at by the books that only showed healthy foods. The little girls are black, white, Latina, mixed-race, Asian. Like a box of doughnuts themselves, actually.

And then there's page 18. "My busy day." All the activities pictured on this page are domestic duties: cooking, sweeping, washing clothes, gardening, pushing a doll carriage. What, no ironing? The very next page, ok, is about playing, and the little girls take a break from their chores by dancing, playing soccer, fishing, reading, drawing, etc. So I should probably relax. After all, my two boys did lots of pretend cooking in their day. Although not so much pretend clothes washing - that's a new one on me.

Bottom line: My big pink book of everything is an appealing, colorful book with lots of interaction. Will it fry your retinas? You bet. Look up from this book after only a few pages and you get a big green splotch in your field of vision. But will it fry your daughter's brain? Nope. Leave that to Barbie.

Color by Ella Doran, David Goodman and Zoe Miller - review

Have you ever gone to an art supply store and just wanted to dive into the colors? To come away with every oil stick, pastel, colored pencil, and tube of paint they had? I used to go to Pearl Paint on Canal Street in New York and just wander around coveting.

Paging through Color is like doing that - I kind of wanted to rub each page of this book against my face. Sumptuous photography conveys the texture of every brilliantly-hued object, from pencil shavings to felt. Grass. Chocolate. A pansy so purple it practically pulses. Spot coatings such as flocking and varnish add to the three-dimensional feel.

Basic color theory is included - primary colors, shade and tint, optical effects. Fun spinny thingies explain complementary colors and color mixing.

Thank you to Ella Doran and the Tate Museum for publishing this spectacular birthday present for my four year old son, to whom color is as essential as food. Frequently, more so.

and to name but just a few: Red Yellow Green Blue, written and illustrated by Laurie Rosenwald - review

and to name but just a few: Red Yellow Green Blue, written and illustrated by Laurie Rosenwald
Packed with Easter Eggs and in-jokes, this shouty color book is a delight. Laurie Rosenwald is a professional illustrator for fine New York publications, but she obviously enjoys a spell of messy, unprofessional behavior from time to time. The illustrations - expressive collages and swipes of crayon, scraps of photo, puddles of paint - are bold and chunky enough for babies... while the text, laid out, colored and sized in such a way that you know exactly how to read it and where to place the emphasis, is clever enough for first or even second graders.

mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow
she painted it with poster paint
and now it isn't

When I read it to my kids, my four-year-old said that the pink page was his favorite. "You know why? I love this page because it's pink, and your hair is pink, and I love you!" Q.E.D.

Give it to your niece who's going to art-school; give it to those hipster parent friends of yours with the expensive stroller.