4 out of 4 stars
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Remember when school was fun and not just an exercise in memorization and recital? Me either! But books like What's Your Favorite Color? by Amber L. Lassiter certainly go a long way to bring me back to those glorious childhood days.
What's Your Favorite Color? is a children's book about a girl named Amber (just like the author!), set on a special day at school. Their teacher, Mrs. Lassiter (also like the author) has set up a day of mystery and artistic expression: each student is tasked with wearing their favorite color and then given the assignment in class to paint something that includes their favorite color. To make things more interesting, the students are challenged with not letting anyone else know what their favorite color is! That's quite the conundrum!
Unfortunately, Amber left her watercolors at home, and she didn't want to use any of the paint colors in the supply closet, so she's forced to borrow some from others. Each time she borrows a color, the student assumes it must be her favorite, making disguising her favorite color even more of a challenge. Can Amber come up with a way to surprise everyone, even you and your children?
Two thoughts ran through my head when I picked What's Your Favorite Color? to review. First I laughed to myself, imagining the hilarious scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail in which the knights were given a quiz upon trying to cross a bridge. For those not familiar, these questions were absolutely silly. One knight is asked "what's your favorite color" and replies "blue... no, wait AAAAHHHHHH!" and is flung off the bridge before he can correct himself. The second thought was "wow, this art is terrific!" That same "wow" was maintained throughout the rest of the book as well; Amber (the author) did a fantastic job of capturing each favorite color, as well as coming up with all kinds of neat children's art. She even changed the background colors based on the various favorite colors! The book is only available in physical form, and I reviewed the book digitally in a PDF file, so I can't speak to how easy the images are to see from a distance or on the page. I can definitely say that they're stellar on my laptop!
The writing was excellent as well, although the author used much bigger words than I would've expected. On the first page alone are the words "glistening", "puckered", and "mimicking", and when I copied the text into wordcounter.net, it said that the reading level was 9th-10th grade. As such, this book will definitely need an adult to help with reading it, which is fitting since she wrote: "The book is good for parents, educators, schools, librarians and students in grades 1-3."
Periodically, Amber asks various questions that relate to what's happening. For example, at the beginning is a list of children and their paintings in order, then the author asks "What can you tell about the order and pattern Mrs. Lassiter used to hang the students' portraits?" These questions not only allow for additional bonding while reading, but they also encourage critical thinking and ensure that everyone is focused on the book.
The only thing I found negative at all about the book feels far more like nit-picking than actual criticism. On the first page of the story, the text on the page says "she noticed the banner on the wall: 'Meet Our Picassos!'", but the banner on the wall actually says "Meet Our Picasso's". This single apostrophe is literally the only thing that wasn't exceptional about the book, and as such I'm rating What's Your Favorite Color 4 out of 4 stars. It's an easy recommendation for anyone who has a kid and wants to have an educational experience together. The terrific art doesn't hurt, either.
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What's Your Favorite Color?
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