Green as a Bean [Hardcover]

Karla Kuskin (Author), Melissa Iwai (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up

What would you be if you were green?
Or red?
Or blue?
Or yellow?
Would you still be you?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2—"If you could be...?" is an often-asked question by a child. What would you be if you were something other than yourself? And if you were that other thing, would you still be you? Kuskin poses these questions throughout this playfully thoughtful book. In delicious rhythmic language, readers are asked what they might be if they were the color green or a square shape, soft or loud, small, red, or fierce, and more. Possible answers are considered after each question, answers as familiar as "the sound of thunder at night" and as quirky as "an acrobat's tights with a hole in the knee." Children will enjoy considering the many possibilities prompted by each question and will most certainly be eager to add their own responses to the list. The warm illustrations have a soft, smudged, crayonlike effect that renders the most impossible query and response accessible. Portions of the text were published previously in 1960. Such an engaging invitation to explore the world and tickle the imagination is most definitely worth a second visit.—Susan Moorhead, New Rochelle Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Kuskin offers more winning poetry in this cheerful picture book that is sure to inspire loud crowd participation. The rhyming text is a game of hypothetical questions: "If you could be soft / would you be the snow / or twenty-five pillows / or breezes that blow / the blossoms that fall from / the sassafras tree? / Tell me, sweet soft one, / what would you be?" More questions follow, each representing a different quality--loud, fierce, small, green, blue, bright, and so on. Lines in expertly modulated rhyme and meter encourage children to imagine themselves as everything from a tiny "mouse's house's front door key" to the whole of the sky, and the parade of images, both profound and silly, are nicely extended in Iwai's bright, fanciful acrylic paintings. As in so much of Kuskin's work, the enjoyable, even hypnotic sounds and the meaning of the words reinforce each other beautifully; "If you could be loud," for example, is followed by forceful lines that demand a strong, assertive voice: "thunder at night," the "howl of a hound," "the pound of the sea." Sure to be a read-aloud favorite, this will also be an excellent choice for elementary poetry units; it may well inspire students to write their own verses about infinite possibilities. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060753323
• ISBN-13: 978-0060753320
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars rich colorful pictures, good learning tool, March 4, 2008

By 

Liamsmama - See all my reviews

This review is from: Green as a Bean (Hardcover)

I think I liked this book better than my son did. There isn't a storyline, but its a wonderful tool for teaching the concept of simile to a child. The colors are rich and the text nicely descriptive.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!!, February 12, 2009

By 

C. Childers "mamaMia" (Morgan Hill, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Green as a Bean (Hardcover)

I didn't buy this book yet, but I checked it out from the library...my 1 1/2 year old loved it! She wanted to read it every night, again and again. I unfortunately had to return it to the library and she still asks for it...I'll have to buy a copy!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of our favorites, November 20, 2010

By 

Jaime Haight (North Yarmouth, ME, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Green as a Bean (Hardcover)

I have two active and curious boys. This book has great pictures a great flow and each section ends with a question. It's perfect to engage my children and I enjoy their thoughts. I have bought it as gifts as well.