Green on Green

December 1, 2019
A celebration of colors through a full cycle of the seasons. This rhyming, lyrical story opens with a blue-eyed, dark-skinned mother and child enjoying the yellow flowers in a grassy green meadow with the father riding horseback nearby and a lighthouse on the coast in the background. The text accompanying each seasonal sequence includes a refrain that focuses on the colors: "yellow on green" for springtime. The rhythmic text practically sings of the shifting seasons, as spring turns to summer, summer to fall, and so on, while the matte illustrations reveal the child's curiosity, the family's bonds, and the mother's growing roundness as they all prepare for the birth of a baby. A summer trip to the beach brings "turquoise, teal, and blue on green"; "toasty and warm" "cinnamon, almond, and brown on green" abound in fall; winter comes with "gray and taupe and white on green"; and spring sees the addition of a new family member. Since every season includes green, it remains a touchpoint and a refrain throughout. Insects and animals, including the family dog, show up on most pages, giving detail-oriented readers lots to explore. Sala's intentional inclusion of diversity in this rural community, as folks gather for activities and events, offers mirrors for many kinds of readers and emphasizes the richness of cross-cultural sharing. A beautifully illustrated, peaceful song of family, community, and new birth. (Picture book. 3-7)

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Starred review from December 23, 2019
“Lemonade petals./ Sunflakes between./ Lemonade, sunflakes, and yellow on green.” Sala (What’s Cooking at 10 Garden Street?) anchors this serene, incantatory poem by White (Who Eats Orange?) with a family—mother, father, child, all with brown skin and black hair—she follows through the seasons. With feather-light economy, White’s musical language (“Gentle the breezes./ Rain between./ Breezes and rain and yellow on green”) combines color and sensation. In watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil, soft lines and saturated hues mark each new season: an apple harvest for fall, a snow-laden spruce for winter. As the weather grows colder (“Cinnamon spice./ Almond between./ Cinnamon, almond, and brown on green”), it becomes clear that the family is expecting a baby. Rolling winter farmland signals space and peace; the family gathers with others to sing carols, and the child lays a hand on their mother’s stomach with a smile. Soon, the mother and an infant are visible through the house’s window. White’s words beat at the same slow pace as time lived by the seasons, and Sala’s paintings celebrate lives immersed in nature’s wealth. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Jennifer Rofé, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions.

January 1, 2020

PreS-Gr 1-"Yellow the flower./Yellow the seed./Yellow and black the buzzing bee." Starting in the spring, this gentle verse story follows a small boy, his family, and their friends over the course of one year. Each season brings its own cozy delights, lushly depicted in Sala's colorful spreads. Whether it's the child playing in puddles and enjoying spring flowers, exploring the beach and picnicking with family and friends in the summer, savoring autumnal repasts, or caroling in the winter, each scene brims with love, warmth, and rural tranquility. Sharp-eyed readers will enjoy finding elements repeated throughout-a striped lighthouse in the background, the family's horse and dog, different views of the boy's house, the mother's growing belly, and the appearance of a new baby in early spring. Both the mixed media illustrations and White's pithy verses highlight the special colors of each season, with a soothing refrain of "[color] on green"-yellow in spring, blue in summer, brown in autumn, finally white in winter. VERDICT A quietly comforting celebration of family and nature that can enrich most collections.-Yelena Voysey, formerly at Pickering Educational Library, Boston University

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2020
Grades K-2 *Starred Review* Endpaper illustrations of the same tree during spring and summer (in the front) then fall and winter (in the back) foreshadow the chronology of this story, but this radiant combination of poetic text and warm, inviting watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil illustrations is much more than a simple depiction of changing seasons. The text?comprised of hypnotic, rhyme-laden tercets?considers how colors blend and layer in nature, while the pictures tell the story of a boy living with his parents in a small, white house surrounded by fields and near to the water. All of the family members have dark skin and hair with blue eyes. A flowing perspective in the full-bleed paintings invites the reader to enter and feel like part of the story as, in spring, plants grow past the edges, while summer brings sand, water, and picnics in the fields. Moving into fall, apples and pumpkins appear, then lots of snow, always with the family positioned just inside the frame of nature. Idyllic scenes of playing at the beach, gathering with friends (of various skin and hair colors), and singing around a Christmas tree present a calm respite from everyday busyness. As the seasons progress, another transition occurs, with a new baby joining the family when spring comes again.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)