The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh by Supriya Kelkar and Alea Marley with S. J. Singh - #1 for Children's Day

Harpreet Singh loved his colors.

Bright, muted pastel, or neon, he had one for every occasion. 

He wore yellow when he felt sunny, 

spreading cheer everywhere he went. 

He wore pink when he felt like celebrating, 

bopping along to bhangra beats. 

And he wore red when he needed 

an extra boost of courage. 

The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh is about a Sikh boy who color-coordinates his outfits with his patkas (turbans) and chooses the color based on his mood. He wears blue when he's nervous, gray when he's sad, white (that's white) when he wants to disappear. When Harpreet's family moves all the way across the country, from a land of beaches to a colder climate where it snows, Harpreet begins to wear colors that reflect the fact that he's not particularly happy with the move. He doesn't like the cold or snow and he just wants to be invisible at school. 

But, then one day Harpreet finds a hat with a smiley face on it and he knows who it belongs to. He takes it to the little girl who lost it and after exchanging a few words with her, he has a new friend. Harpreet starts wearing bright colors again: red for a regular school day, pink for a class party, then finally yellow. 

Yes, Harpreet Singh loved his colors. 

He had one for every occasion. 

Even for just hanging out with a 

FRIEND. 

Highly recommended - Besides the tale of Harpreet, the creative little boy who likes to match his outfit to his mood, and a story of dealing with a difficult move and finding a friend, there is an extra page of information about Sikhism by a "scholar and professor of Sikhism", just after the final page of the story. I love a book that teaches something new. The first time I read the book, I was evaluating as I read and it concerned me that "patka" wasn't immediately defined. This time, I knew that it was defined within the story and there was no need for a glossary, so I enjoyed the story more. A good tale for reinforcing color skills, talking about moving house and making new friends, and for learning about a religion that a lot of people don't know anything about. Lovely illustrations reflect the many moods and colors. I love this book. 

I received a copy of The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh from Sterling Children's Books for review. Many thanks! Today is Children's Day at Bookfoolery and this is the first of three posts. Back in a few hours!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Two board books I love: Spot the Animals and 1-2-3 Dinosaurs Bite, both illus. by Steve Jenkins

The following books are both board books that would make excellent last-minute gifts or stocking stuffers, if you're in need of ideas for a baby, toddler or preschooler. 

Spot the Animals is a "lift-the-flap" book in which an animal is hidden behind a beautifully illustrated flap, cut to fit the shape of whatever the animal is hiding behind (leaves, coral, rocks).  I couldn't find any decent images online, so I snapped my own.  I think it's best just to show you a little from the inside.  You should be able to click on each image to enlarge.

There are six animals and colors in Spot the Animals.  In the final page spread, there are six stripes -- one of each of the colors of the animals that have hidden -- and each of the colors is labeled.  On the right-hand side, the 6 animals are shown and labeled by name.  The wonderful thing about Spot the Animals is that it's so simple and short that you could easily read the book to a small baby (I read to mine while they were still in the crib and later would prop them in a seated position and read to them while rocking) but Spot the Animals is also educational, so preschoolers and even early readers can get something out of it.  

1-2-3 Dinosaurs Bite is similar in that it's educational and has a special feature, in this case bites chopped out of each page.  You actually count the chunks missing from the book.  How cool is that?  By the time you arrive at 6-7-8-9-10, there's a page that is so bitten there's only about a third left.

The last page spread incorporates counting with other learning tools, for example: 2 horns, 3 sharp claws, 6 footprints, 8 letters in the word dinosaur.  The final words are "Guard all 10 of your fingers -- these DINOSAURS BITE!"

Both books are highly recommended.  Perfect illustrations that are colorful, balanced and interesting with a unique twist (bites cut from the pages; die-cut shapes the animals are hidden behind) and plenty of educational material crammed into a few short pages make can't-miss fun for children and will satisfy a parent's urge to teach.  I absolutely love these books.  Since they're board books, they're also quite sturdy, even with folding pages and chunks missing.

On a side note, because I had trouble finding any images of these books and had to take my own, I got to see a large number of other illustrations by Steve Jenkins.  It looks like he's the kind of artist I would seek out if I still had small children.  I don't, but I'm hoping there are grandchildren in my future.  I'm hanging onto these two board books, just in case.


©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.