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Sheila Hamanaka

All the Colors of the Earth Paperback – September 28, 1999

by Sheila Hamanaka (Author, Illustrator)

206 ratings

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Celebrate the colors of children and the colors of love—not black or white or yellow or red, but roaring brown, whispering gold, tinkling pink, and more.

Included in Brightly's list of recommended diverse poetry picture books for kids, this beautifully illustrated book "celebrates the beauty of diversity to the fullest through engaging, rhyming text," commented Charnaie Gordon in her Brightly review. All the Colors of the Earth "would be a wonderful book to use in multicultural classrooms in schools."

"How better to celebrate ethnic diversity than to look to children, the hope of the future? This glorious picture book does just that."—Booklist

"A poetic picture book and an exemplary work of art. The simple text describes children's skin tones and hair in terms of natural phenomena and then describes love for these children with rich colors and flavors. A celebration of diversity." —School Library Journal

Reading age

1 - 7 years, from customers
Print length

32 pages
Language

English
Grade level

Preschool - 3
Lexile measure

AD540L
Dimensions

8.5 x 0.25 x 11 inches
Publisher

HarperCollins
Publication date

September 28, 1999
ISBN-10

0688170625
ISBN-13

978-0688170622
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Karen Katz
2,156
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Katie Kissinger
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Hardcover
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Michael Tyler
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Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
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Karen Katz
2,156
Paperback
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Michael Tyler
778
Hardcover
97 offers from $1.44
Katie Kissinger
351
Hardcover
71 offers from $7.48
Leo Lionni
1,701
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Allan Ahlberg
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Lyrical" text and "extraordinary, light-filled" paintings celebrate the earth, children and the diversity of the world's ethnic heritages, said PW. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"With her lyrical text and splendid oil paintings, Hamanaka offers a hymn to children everywhere... Extraordinary, light-filled paintings accompany the single curving line of text on each page... These joyful illustrations amply celebrate the richness and diversity of the world's ethnic heritages." (Publishers Weekly)

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; Reprint edition (September 28, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0688170625
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0688170622
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 1 - 7 years, from customers
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ AD540L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ Preschool - 3
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.25 x 11 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #316,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,045 in Children's Self-Esteem Books
- #2,289 in Children's Explore the World Books (Books)
- #13,372 in Children's Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
206 ratings

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Sheila Hamanaka

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Customer reviews

5 star		84%
4 star		8%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

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Amazon Customer

Teaching children about skin tones

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

I love this broader perspective of how our skin tones match the wonderful hues in nature. It’s such a natural concept for understanding our different skin colors that represent such a minuscule aspect of our genetics and humanity. Wish I had heard this book as a child. It goes wonderfully with a song “we are made of the colors of earth” and the song is extra fun with sign language .

Unexpectedly, baby's favorite book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 23, 2012

Verified Purchase

Here's something I didn't expect - my baby boy adores this book. It's one of a select number of books he will sit and listen to all the way through (he's 11 months old now, and he has been listening to this attentively for at least four or five months). There's not a lot of text on each page, and the language is lyrical, and the pictures are beautiful, and it obviously strikes a chord with him -- he starts squirming part way through Dr. Seuss, but he wants this one again and again. I wouldn't have thought of this as a book for a baby -- I first read it to him on a whim when he pulled it off the shelf one day and handed it to me -- but I'm very pleased he likes it so much, and while I was a little ambivalent about the text when I first got it, thinking it was a little sappy, I've found it stands up well to repeated readings (repeated = every night for several months), and now I quite love it.

6 people found this helpful

My favorite children's book EVER (and that's no small task)

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 20, 2003

Verified Purchase

I was told about this masterpiece by a dear friend of mine - it is one of her young son's very favorite stories and hers as well. I purchased this book from amazon about 18 months ago (right before my daughter was born) and have kept it on my nightstand ever since. I cannot bear to put this book anywhere else as I love to flip through the pages when the mood suits me - I absolutely adore the illustrations (which are based upon breath-taking canvas oil paintings) and the lyircal verse is abolutely perfect.
My favorite verses: "The tinkling pinks of tiny seashells by the rumbling sea" and "Love is amber and ivory and ginger ans sweet". My favorite illustrations: "roaring bear" & "soaring eagle" and "amber, ivory, ginger" (it looks exactly like my family!).
While this book is perfect for multicultural families (many images of "mixed " families) like my own, it most definitely is a book for EVERYONE!
Everything about this book is wonderful: the message, the verse, the illustrations - the stunning simplicity of it all : "children come in all the colors of love, in endless shades of you and me".

43 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

I love this book! It’s great for toddlers and preschoolers! The pictures are beautiful and the writing is lyrical.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

Love this book so much I have bought it for several children in my life.

Minerva BryantTop Contributor: Coloring

What Color Are You?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 28, 2012

Verified Purchase

As a writer it is so important to give a physical description of your characters. It helps to give them life and a "voice" they so need. How do you describe skin color/tone? I do appreciate this book because a number of the describtions just opened the flood gates of endless ways to pin point the color of a person's skin. To me it has been a wonderful help..."the whispering golds of late summer grasses". Now I have thoughts for other description of skin tones. As for my skin tone... the color of walnut. Thanks you Sheila Hamanaka and Amazon -All the Colors of the Earth.

Valerie P Greene

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 1, 2019

Verified Purchase

My kids are adults now, but I used to love to read this to them. Just ordered for my boyfriend's grand daughter

Outdated, Sappy

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2011

Verified Purchase

I truly hate to go against all the other reviews of this book. I was excited to get it but upon first reading, I felt my insides sinking. First of all, the illustrations are really really outdated and they are, in my opinion, extremely corny. On top of that, I found the prose to be really goofy and unappealing. I felt silly reading them to my three year old daughter, in fact. I'm so sorry to say it but I did not think this book appropriately treated the issue of diversity since it does focus on colors mainly, and the way that it conveys the range of colors is shallow and so overly poetic that it actually is not poetic at all because it turned cliche.

I'm going to keep looking for a good book about diversity for children.

15 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Tania Russell

A besutiful book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 9, 2014

Verified Purchase

I used this book some years ago as part of a project I was doing with under 5s in the nursery.
Its a really beautifully illustrated book that celebrates all children, it was a great favourite and
Read and enjoyed many times over.

One person found this helpful

Clur

Fantasticly illustrated

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 28, 2013

Verified Purchase

I love this book.
It is thoughtful and descriptive in its message, we are all different, we are all beautiful.

One person found this helpful

gazsut

Great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 14, 2018

Verified Purchase

Super

VN

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

Such a lovely book for children of all ages.

Kindle Customer

Artist in Motion

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 12, 2009

Verified Purchase

I bought this book for the story, and it turns out that I like the story but I love the paintings. I am a high school teacher and I include this book as a part of my unit on children's literature. It is very popular with the most surprising people! The message is universal, in celebrating our beauty as humanity, and the paintings have a sense of joy. Lovely.

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