Review: RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS: A YEAR IN COLORS by Joyce Sidman

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sidman, Joyce. 2009. Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN 9780547014944

2. PLOT SUMMARY
In Red Sings from Treetops Joyce Sidman presents a fanciful collection of poems about seasons and colors. The collection begins with spring and continues through the seasons, presenting their various colors in a fresh way that enables the reader to equate the colors with what they see, hear, taste and feel. The colors are introduced as they relate to each season. In the spring red is a bird singing from treetops and worms squirming on the road. In summer, red comes on a hummingbird’s throat and a beetle.  Red falls as leaves and crunches as apples in the autumn, and in winter red beats in the narrator’s heart and hops on treetops as a cardinal. Each color is introduced in a similar turn of phrase as they relate to the season.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This is an enchanting book. Sidman uses language in a way which creates imagery that is very appealing to the reader or listener, allowing one to picture the colors in their “mind’s eye.” Phrases such as “black holds secrets,” and “purple pouts” attribute feelings to the colors. “White sounds like storms,” and “red whispers along my finger” give the colors a voice. These and many other clever phrases bring sounds, smells and taste to the colors bringing them to life. In this beautiful collection of poems, nature sings in the birds and trills in the insects.

The imagery created by Sidman’s words is beautifully represented by Pamela Zagarenski’s mixed media illustrations. The whimsical narrator and her pup, wearing crowns and dressed in the appropriate colors, travel through each season enjoying all it has to offer.  Colors in the illustrations have texture and depth created by a patterning which makes one think of fabric prints. Text is appropriately colored in a way that will help a beginning reader associate the color word with its corresponding color. Children will love the cute pictures of the baby birds, the pup, the raccoon and the lady bug.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
2010 CALDECOTT HONOR AWARD

NEW YORK TIMES book review: "It's wonderfully strange to read of colors with sounds, smells and tastes."
KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review: "A charming inspiration to notice colors and correlate emotions"
THE BULLITEN starred review: "This book has a freshness and visual impact all its own, and it will inspire a rainbow of uses."
HORN BOOK, starred review:"Sustaining the playfulness of the text and its sense of awe, mystery, and beauty, the illustrations contribute gracefully to the celebration."
BOOKLIST, starred review: "As the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page, do sing."

5. CONNECTIONS
After reading this book to children, the students should be encouraged to say what colors they associate with each season. Do any colors have special meaning for them or make them feel any particular emotions? This book naturally leads into an art activity. Students could paint or draw a picture to go with their favorite color and write about it. This is ideal poetry to tie in with teaching seasons to young children and a great supplement to kindergarten and pre-K children learning their colors.
Other books to learn colors:
Lionni, Leo. A Color of His Own. ISBN 0375836977
Ronay, Laura. Kids Like Me Learn Colors. ISBN 1606130013
Other books by Joyce Sidman:
Sidman, Joyce. Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems. ISBN 0618135472
Sidman, Joyce. Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature. ISBN 054731583X