Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors (Sidman, Joyce) [Hardcover]

Joyce Sidman (Author), Pamela Zagarenski (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2009 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Sidman, Joyce

With original and spot-on perceptions, Joyce Sidman brings the colors of the seasons to life in a fresh light, combining the senses of sight, sound, smell and taste. Illustrator Pam Zagarenski's interpretations go byeond the concrete, allowing us to not just see color, but feel it.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The changing seasons have been the subject of many a picture book, but this one has a particularly unique take on the topic. Each season is explored in terms of how it encompasses colors. In the spring, “Red sings / from treetops . . . / each note dropping / like a cherry / into my ear.” Green “peeks from buds,” and yellow “slips goldfinches their spring jackets.” Succeeding seasons offer other opportunities for the colors to spread their particular magic. In summer, “white clinks in drinks.” The blue in water takes on many names: “turquoise, azure, cerulean.” Sidman also brings other senses to the fore. Old leaves and crushed berries smell purple. And though one might not associate pink with winter, it “prickles: / warm fingers / against cold cheeks.” All of these evocative images are matched in the imaginative illustrations. Stylized figures, intricately costumed and crowned, walk, run, and sail through Zagarenski’s artwork. You’ll find one in a tree picking juicy red apples and another set against an expanse of white, building a snowman. Throughout, the mixed-media illustrations, including collage and paintings on wood, provide much to look at. And as the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page do sing. Preschool-Grade 1. --Ilene Cooper

Review

A 2010 Caldecott Honor Book

"It's wonderfully strange to read of colors with sounds, smells and tastes."--New York Times Book Review

"A charming inspiration to notice colors and correlate emotions"--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"This book has a freshness and visual impact all its own, and it will inspire a rainbow of uses."--The Bulletin, starred review

"Sustaining the playfulness of the text and its sense of awe, mystery, and beauty, the illustrations contribute gracefully to the celebration."--Horn Book, starred review

"As the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page, do sing."--Booklist, starred review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; None edition (April 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547014945
• ISBN-13: 978-0547014944
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joyce Sidman is known for her fresh, inventive poetry for children. Her award-winning books include Dark Emperor (A Newbery Honor Book), Song of the Water Boatman and Red Sings from Treetops (both Caldecott Honor Books), Butterfly Eyes (Cybils Award), and This Is Just to Say (Claudia Lewis Poetry Award). A recent starred review in School Library Journal said, "Sidman's ear is keen, capturing many voices. Her skill as a poet accessible to young people is unmatched." Born in Connecticut, Joyce now lives in Minnesota. Visit her at www.joycesidman.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly Simple, April 19, 2009

By 

Nicola "spends too much on books" (Saint Paul, Mongolia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors (Sidman, Joyce) (Hardcover)

I have been inspired by Joyce Sidman to get back to what I love doing best - reading brilliant children's literature and raving about it to any unfortunate who happens to bother to read it.
There are a lot of poems about color out there and I am sure that practically any elementary-aged child in the English-speaking world has had to write one. It's pretty easy and has a low-risk level (unlike my cat - long story). However, like most things that are pretty easy to do, they are really hard to do well.
I have spent many an early morning and late evening in my yard trying to think of an opening line for a poem about a cardinal. When you live in the northern regions of this fair land, the sight of a cardinal's scarlet plumage against eye-searing-white snow is sometimes the only hope you have that the world is still turning and you're not stuck in this frozen wasteland forever. Don't get me wrong, winter is beautiful when it first comes and everything is clean white,
"White dazzles day
and turns night
inside out."
But, at a certain point, you need to see green.
Luckily for me, Sidman knows this, too and she comes endowed with the magic touch with words. It's like she got inside my heart - because, truly, that's where poetry germinates - and translated it in to these beautiful poems - because, truly, that's what the poets you love do.
"And Red?
Red beats inside me:
thump-thump-thump."
Sidman is frugal but never meagre with her words. They take on the exact shape, smell, and feel of the season's passing colors. The verses are short but complete and leave pleanty of room for the stunning art work of Zagarenski. Verse and picture blend seamlessly together. Zagarenski never tries to "outcolor" the poems,and her palate is rich and delicious just when it needs to be. Zagarenski also illustrated Sidman's This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgivenessand the same crowned and whimsically dressed figures run through these pages. The cardinal is ever present with his own crimson crown. Each page tells a story and I discover something new every time I read the book.
Luckily for us, Sidman and Zagarenski know how to make a simple thing look and sound stunningly difficult.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book sings; we sing!, March 3, 2010

By 

mama reads (florida, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors (Sidman, Joyce) (Hardcover)

Our family loves books. We've been unable to return this one to the library without buying a copy for ourselves. When my 2.5 yr old daughter recites,
"...and
each note drops
like a cherry
into
my
ear,"
her tremendous joy is reason enough to recommend this book to anyone who loves words, loves colors and appreciates the seasons.

The lush illustrations are worthy of a book that speaks in color--a delight!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Colors Dance, January 5, 2010

By 

Catherine W. Hughes (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors (Sidman, Joyce) (Hardcover)

Colors dance through the seasons, from spring to winter and back again, following the red cardinal's "cheer," and presence throughout the year. Told in seasonal poems, the greens of spring, the blues of summer, the oranges and blacks of fall and the whites of winter, burst forth onto the pages, with painted and mixed media illustrations. The lyrical lines of color let the reader look at the beauty of four seasons. Children ages 5-8 will sing song with these poems of the year.