Green [Hardcover]

Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: March 27, 2012 | Age Range: 2 - 6 years | Series: Booklist Editor's Choice. Books for Youth (Awards)

Die cut pages bring surprise after surprise in this magical new book from the "Queen of the concept book"—an intricate and satisfying homage to green, the color of all creation.

 

How many kinds of green are there? There's the lush green of a forest on a late spring day, the fresh, juicy green of a just-cut lime, the incandescent green of a firefly, and the vivid aquamarine of a tropical sea. In her newest book, Caldecott and Geisel Honor Book author Laura Vaccaro Seeger fashions an homage to a single color and, in doing so, creates a book that will delight and, quite possibly astonish you.

 

Green is a Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2012

 

Green is a 2013 Caldecott Honor Book

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Subtle cutouts on each richly painted page of Laura Vaccaro Seeger's 'Green' similarly create a mystical sense of complexity and continuity. In this case, the images on each page refer both backward and forward, permitting a fascinating interplay of shade and hue, from the 'khaki green' of a lizard to the 'never green' of a stop sign."--The Wall Street Journal

 

“…the reader who settles down and slowly pages through its gorgeous acrylic paintings or, better yet, reads it aloud to a young child, will find rich rewards. Each spread describes a particular shade of green — forest green, sea green, lime green, pea green, jungle green — and the list actually does go on and on.”--New York Times

 

“Seeger's skill at creating simple yet wonderfully effective concept books, as well as her mastery of die-cuts that delight in unexpected and ingenious ways, are in full evidence in this salute to the color green.”

--Publishers Weekly, starred

 

“…an enticing project in color exploration and language…”--BCCB

 

“This is a book for turning pages, pointing, looking, talking— fun!”--Booklist, Starred

"...a triumph of artistic problem-solving." -Horn Book, Starred

“…lovely, inventive, engrossing and interactive.”-Kirkus, Starred

 "Just when it seems that there could not possibly be anything new to present about this trendy color, Seeger creates a tactile treat that yields surprise with every page turn."--School Library Journal, Starred

About the Author

Among Laura Vaccaro Seeger's many distinctive books for children are First the Egg--a Caldecott Honor Book and a Geisel Honor Book; One Boy--a Geisel Honor Book; and Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories--winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book award. Laura lives on Long Island with her husband, Chris, their two sons, Drew and Dylan, and their dog, Copper.

Product Details

• Age Range: 2 - 6 years
  
• Hardcover: 36 pages
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press; First Edition edition (March 27, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596433973
• ISBN-13: 978-1596433977
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Children's Books > Education & Reference

More About the Author

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not that easy writing Green April 12, 2012

By E. R. Bird HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Sometimes you just want to show a kid a beautiful picture book. Sometimes you also want that book to be recent. That's the tricky part. Not that there aren't pretty little picture books churned out of publishing houses every day. Of course there are. But when you want something that distinguishes itself and draws attention without sparkles or glitter the search can be a little fraught. We children's librarians sit and wait for true beauty to fall into our laps. The last time I saw it happen was Jerry Pinkney's The Lion & the Mouse. Now I'm seeing it again with Laura Vaccaro Seeger's Green. I mean just look at that cover. I vacillate between wanting to smear those thick paints with my hands and wanting to lick it to see if it tastes like green frosting. If my weirdness is any kind of a litmus test, kids will definitely get a visceral reaction when they flip through the pages. I know we're talking colors here but if I were to capture this book in a single word then there's only one that would do: Delicious.

Open the book and the first pictures you see are of a woodland scene. Two leaves hang off a nearby tree as the text reads "forest green". Turn the page and those leaves, cut into the paper itself, flip over to two fishies swimming in the deep blue sea. A tortoise swims lazily by, bubbles rising from its head ("sea green"). Another page and the holes of the bubbles are turned over to become the raised bumps on a lime. And so it goes with each new hole or cut connecting one kind of green to another. We see khaki greens, wacky greens, slow greens and glow greens until at last Seeger fills the page with boxes filled with different kinds of green.... This is followed by a stop sign and the words "never green" against an autumn background. On the next page it is winter and "no green" followed by an image of a boy planting something. The final spread shows a man and his daughter gazing at a tree. The description: "forever green". You bet.

Can a color be political? Absolutely. In a given election season you'll see red vs. blue, after all. In children's books colors would historically be associated with races or countries (hence the flare up around titles like Two Reds). Green occupies a hazy middle ground here. We all know about the Green Party or green activism. However, it's not as if you'll find many parents forbidding their children to read this book because it pushes a pro-environment agenda. Seeger is subtler than that. Yes, her book does end with humans planting and admiring trees, but thanks to her literary restraint the message isn't thwapping you over the head with a tire iron. She could have turned her "no green" two-page spread into some barren landfill-esque wasteland. Instead we see a snow scene. This is followed by the only silent two pages in the book, showing a boy planting a tree. Finally a man and his daughter (presumably the boy grown up since the barn in the background appears to be the same) look up at a fully-grown tree's foliage as the text reads, "forever green". It's a message there for the taking, but only if you're smart enough to spot it.

Ms. Seeger has never quite looked like anybody else. Artistically, I mean. Her style is a unique combination of die-cuts and thick paints on textured backgrounds. If Eric Carle made die-cuts classy, Seeger takes them one step further and makes them an art in and of themselves. No other artist has ever used them to the same degree. Seeger not only understands the inherent drama in the turn of a page, she makes it the lynchpin of her success. In this book you spend part of the time admiring the art, part of the time trying to predict where the die-cuts will appear, and part of the time flipping back and forth between pages so that you can figure out why you couldn't see the tiger eyes hidden in the wooden table or the fireflies lurking in the leaves. The danger is that the whole book could come off feeling like some enormous gimmick. Instead, you get a sense of interconnectedness. The green of a pea tied into the green of a blade of grass tied into the green of a gecko's skin. In Green there's purpose and meaning above beyond how cool it all looks. When you successfully combine those two things you end up with a picture book that crosses over from merely good into the realm of the exceptional.

On the publication page the description of this book says, "Illustrations and simple, rhyming text explore the many shades of the color green." And while technically true it sort of misses the point of the book. Seeger has quietly shown us a delicate world threatened but enduring. Kids won't perceive the threat. They'll just see how many cool things in the world sport an innumerable number of shades of green. They'll see the cool green of oceans and the nighttime green of uncurled ferns. They'll see and process and remember the book that made it clear that of all the colors of the rainbow, green is the one we need for life itself. A book that is simultaneously subtle and enormously eye-catching. Call it poetry with purpose.

For ages 4-8. Read more ›

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing Green April 21, 2012

By E. C. Whitaker

Format:Hardcover

This is a truly fantastic book for children. I am a Children's librarian and before this, I was a Commercial Designer. My experience has been that children rarely think in "shades of color". They usualy think of primary colors. If you ask them what color they want their room painted, they say "blue" or "pink", not a shade of those colors. This book not only shows and names of the shades of the color green, but tweeks a child's imagination to think in "shades" of every color. I will not only use this book for storytime in the library, but I will bring it to pre-school and elementary school visits. I will read it to children up to the third grade. After showing this book to my 4 year old granddaughter, she picked up a leaf and said, "Oh, grandma, this leaf is a shade of green".

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A visual feast June 4, 2012

By Laura Purdie Salas

Format:Hardcover

Another striking and clever concept picture book from Laura Vaccaro Seeger. This one is about the color green, and great rhyming text ("forest green / sea green / lime green / pea green") and amazing use of art and cutouts make this one to look at over and over. It's hard to describe-you have to see it to appreciate it. It's really short, under 50 words, I think. So it's an incredibly fast read. But there's a lot there, visually, and you and the kids will want to return to it again and again to see how she works in each cutout to the current and previous spread.

Check out a more in-depth review at the blog 100 Scope Notes (I'm not associated with that blog).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book December 26, 2012

By AJ

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

My one year old niece was instantly enticed by these beautiful images. The holes in the page also provide texture for baby's fingers to touch.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Green galore. May 8, 2012

By Heidi Grange

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Seeger never ceases to amaze me with her creativity and skill. Here is another deceptively simple yet fascinating look at the world around us. Seeger shows us the beauty and versatility of the color green. Each die cut changes form on the next page. For example, the book starts by showing a forest with two die cut leaves. When you flip the page, the die cuts have become fish. The kindergartners I shared this with were fascinated by the way the shapes stayed the same but became something else, through the changes in color and location. A delight from beginning to end.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful January 29, 2013

By N. Thompson

Format:Hardcover

Really excellent - at first it doesn't seem like much, a green leaf, a cut out that becomes fish, but slowly the incredible cleverness wallops you! The transitions are so clever, and so well hidden in each painting that they startle you as you turn the page (hey! I didn't see a bird in that paint swirl!) My 9 yo and my 6yo were both wowed by this simple book, and they insisted I read it again. This is truly a book for ALL ages.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So Clever! January 24, 2013

By FM24

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Love Laura Vaccaro Seeger books! This one is a great book featuring the color green and it's many shades. Great paintings and pictures! Great book for an art lesson based off the color green and it's forms. My students loved it and got a kick out of searching in the book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic visual book January 19, 2013

By Melinda in Virginia

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a beautifully illustrated book which promotes curiosity and looking carefully to see how details in one illustration can hide in the bigger picture. It's a great purchase for promoting caring about environment while you teach colors.