Read Aloud Thursday: Blue Cybils

Tomorrow Amy will be hosting an Armchair Cybils link-up and I have a stack of books we’ve enjoyed due to that challenge but I haven’t had a chance to share here.

This is one of those all too rare books where an author takes a simple idea and does it beautifully well. A lonely blue chameleon looks for a friend by turning the same color as various things he meets. The text is limited to a few words per page and the concept is an ordinary book of colors, but the whimsical drawings make it stand out among the pack. When I looked this one up on Amazon, most of the reviews said something like “a new Emily Gravett book should be a celebration” or something else to the effect of how wonderful the author is. This was the first book we’d read by Gravett but I definitely plan on checking out some of her others.

This is another simple color book that rises above the pack. A picture has been mostly painted when one of the chickens in the painting sees the blue paint and decides to play. A little blue paint becomes a lot and mayhem follows. The glee of the mischievous chickens is what makes this one fun to read.

Eric Carle wrote this book partially as a tribute to Franz Marc whose paintings of blue horses inspired Carle as a child. The book is in many ways a tribute to Carle’s own career with paintings of green foxes and black polar bears and polka dotted donkeys. David, who likes art and has said he might be an artist when he grows up, was especially intrigued by the idea that an artist could paint things “any way you want”.

I read all three of these books to my two youngest kids while my oldest was at piano lessons. They (ages 2 and 5) enjoyed all three. I think David at age 5 is probably at the upper age range of kids who will really enjoy these three, which are perfect for very young preschoolers.

And, as always stop by Hope is the Word for more great read aloud suggestions.