Cat's Colours by Airlie Anderson
| Cat's Colours by Airlie Anderson | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Sam Tyler
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| Summary: Cat has a secret and she needs to find a way to add colour to her grey world. Join her in this simple and pleasurable adventure that has a wonderful surprise, but also teaches us about colours. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: January 2016 |
| Publisher: Child's Play | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781846437601 | |
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Great Britain can feel like a grey country sometimes, especially on a cold winter's day when the fog is thick in the air. You can barely see your own hand in front of you, never mind the fertile landscape. Bringing a little colour into a grey world is like bringing a little joy in, so perhaps you can find a little happiness following Cat as she looks for some colour? You may even discover a wonderful surprise at the end of the adventure.
Cat is searching for some colour in a grey world that she can add to her white coat. As she walks along she spots, amongst other things, the blue pond and the green grass. Soon she has started to add colours, but for what reason?
Cat's Colours is a thoroughly charming and simple book that introduces the very young to the concept of colours. Many colour books aimed at the newborns to 16 months market are extremely simple affairs that just show a picture of an item and state the colour – Red Apple, Blue Kite etc. These are effective learning tools, but the lack of narrative means that they have little charm. You cannot imagine an older child or adult going back to one of these books to reminisce as they grow older, but you can with Cat's Colours
Anderson has interspersed the learning about colours with a simple story that gently moves along. Cat comes across a piece of the landscape which has colour and she adds that to her coat. We find out at the end of the book why she is doing this and it is a wonderful and sweet surprise. This one element elevates the book as it makes the entire adventure a charming one that you will love to share with your child.
The illustration and pace of the book should also be applauded. You feel like the story is almost dreamlike as Cat wanders a grey planet. Anderson is not afraid to use space and quiet as a tool. The writing is simple and easy to follow, but some of the double spreads have no words at all as you just observe Cat's journey. For this reason the book is best suited for a younger audience as they can play spot the colour and see what is going on, but an older child would have little to read along with.
Simplicity is often overlooked in children's books in favour of filling the pages with colours and wacky imagery to draw the eye. Cat's Colours has none of this and is just a simple story well told. Its mild manner is charming, but you may find that older children will start to drift as it lacks advanced engagement.
Kids and colour books go together like jam and sticky fingers; there are loads to choose from including Little Owl's Colors by Divya Srinivasan and some even contain cats and colours: Mr Pusskins - Colours by Sam Lloyd.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Cat's Colours by Airlie Anderson at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Cat's Colours by Airlie Anderson at Amazon.com.
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