Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors

Author: Joyce Sidman

Illustrator: Pamela Zagarenski

Peach’s Picks Rating:

Year of publication: 2009

City of publication: Boston

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

ISBN: 9780547014944

Author website: http://www.joycesidman.com/

Illustrator website: No website available. Information about the illustrator can be found at http://www.atthegallery.com/artists/zagarenski.html

Media used for illustrations: Mixed media  paintings on wood and computer illustration

Annotation: A girl and her dog pass though the delights of each season in this picturebook of unrhymed poetry. The text focuses on the names of colors to describe the seasons.

Personal reaction to the book: A red cardinal flies across each full-page spread of this attractive poetry book, inviting the reader to follow it through the four seasons beginning with spring. The beautiful rhythm of the unrhymed poem begs to be read aloud to a group, one-on-one, or simply by a reader experiencing the book alone. The book can be read as a single story of a girl and her dog following the cardinal through the four seasons. Also, the description of each season can be experienced as a story within the larger narrative. Enjoy the text over and over again, listening to the cadence and the vibrant descriptions. The illustrations also beg to be examined again and again. Readers will delight in locating the cardinal, much like looking for the mouse in Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. The soft color palate reflects the colors of the season being described. The mixed media artwork adds texture, richness, and pattern to the pictures. The illustrations extend the text; for example, “Yellow melts everything it touches…smells like butter, tastes like salt (page 8).” The reader understands the simile when looking at the popcorn and corn-on-the-cob shown at the picnic. Color names are printed in their color adding design interest to the text. This is a satisfying, peaceful journey through the seasons that promises to please all readers.

General curricular connections:

• Literature
• Poetry
• Seasons
• National Poetry Month

Recommended grade levels:
School Library Journal recommends the book for preschool-grade 3

Booklist recommends the book for preschool-grade1

Peach’s Picks recommends the book for preschool-grade 4

Awards/Recognitions:
Junior Library Guild Selection
Booklist starred review

Kirkus Review starred review

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starred review

Horn Book starred review

Caldecott Medal/Honor 2010

Notes: This book was selected from "The Top Ten Favorites List / Summer Session 2009", San Jose State University, School of Library and Information Science, LIBR 271A, Genres & Topics in Youth Literature, Professor Partington. It is a work of poetry.

Repetition: Cardinal flying throughout the book

Repetition: Crowns are worn by main character as well as other people and animals throughout the book

Repetition: Wheel-like shape that looks like a lemon sliced through the middle throughout the book

Repetition: Page 2 and 29; “…each note dropping [drops] like a cherry into my ear.”

Simile: Page 2; “…each note dropping like a cherry into my ear.”

Metaphor: Page 2; “Red squirms on the road after rain.”

Alliteration: Page 4; “First flowers, first friends.”

Onomatopoeia: Page 29; “Red beats inside me: thump-thump-thump.”

Book cover picture retrieved from: http://www.joycesidman.com/Bookshelf.html