Seeger's skill at creating simple yet wonderfully effective concept books, as well as her mastery of die-cuts that delight in unexpected and ingenious ways, are in full evidence in this salute to the color green. The gently rhymed verse consists entirely of two-word phrases and begins with a rundown of specific shades ("forest green/ sea green/ lime green/ pea green") before moving into more abstract directions. The turning point: "wacky green," paired with a portrait of a green-and-white zebra shown happily munching grass. Seeger paints thickly on a canvas backdrop that lends an appropriately organic feel, given the natural sources for many of the varieties of green. Throughout, die-cuts of various sizes, shapes, and quantities build surprising connections between adjoining spreads: the words khaki and jungle are hidden within the backgrounds of the other's spread, both made legible by the same rectangular window; a "slow green" inchworm becomes the hook on which hangs a "faded green" sign. There's even room for spreads about the absence of green (a stop sign is "never green"). Here's hoping subsequent color books from Seeger get the green light. Ages 2–6. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Mar.)
Subtle cutouts on each richly painted page of Laura Vaccaro Seeger's 'Green' similarly create a mystical sense of complexity and continuity. In this case, the images on each page refer both backward and forward, permitting a fascinating interplay of shade and hue, from the 'khaki green' of a lizard to the 'never green' of a stop sign.” —The Wall Street Journal
“…the reader who settles down and slowly pages through its gorgeous acrylic paintings or, better yet, reads it aloud to a young child, will find rich rewards. Each spread describes a particular shade of green — forest green, sea green, lime green, pea green, jungle green — and the list actually does go on and on.” —New York Times
“Seeger's skill at creating simple yet wonderfully effective concept books, as well as her mastery of die-cuts that delight in unexpected and ingenious ways, are in full evidence in this salute to the color green.” —Publishers Weekly, starred
“…an enticing project in color exploration and language…” —BCCB
“This is a book for turning pages, pointing, looking, talking— fun!” —Booklist, Starred
“...a triumph of artistic problem-solving.” —Horn Book, Starred
“…lovely, inventive, engrossing and interactive.” —Kirkus, Starred
“Just when it seems that there could not possibly be anything new to present about this trendy color, Seeger creates a tactile treat that yields surprise with every page turn.” —School Library Journal, Starred
PreS-Gr 2—Just when it seems that there could not possibly be anything new to present about this trendy color, Seeger creates a tactile treat that yields surprise with every page turn. On a surface that brings its own nubby texture, the thickly applied oils produce luscious scenes, verdant and ripe. As the spreads open, whether the view is of a forest, a still life of limes, or a seascape, each one begs to be touched, and if the eye hasn't spotted the often cleverly concealed diecuts, the hand will find them. Thus the cutout leaves in the "forest green" landscape become the outlines of fish on the next page's "sea green." Sometimes words are disguised in a painting, so "jungle" (green), obvious when seen through the white frame next to a tiger, is camouflaged when the turn reveals Jackson Pollack-style drips across a lizard on the "khaki green" page. Some choices are "wacky": a green zebra. Others give pause; the stop sign is "never" green. The penultimate composition of a child planting a seedling is wordless, inviting listeners, propelled by the internal rhymes, to participate. The conclusion displays a massive trunk leading up to "forever green." Perfectly paced and visually exciting, this title introduces concepts, humor, and the joy of looking to young children; it represents picture book making at its very best.—Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library
In lush paintings outfitted with cleverly positioned die cuts, Seeger's latest explores the color green. In four simple quatrains, two-word lines each suggest a kind of green, introducing a scene that might show natural, domestic or built elements: "forest green / sea green / lime green / pea green." Two die-cut leaves on a tree in the forest's foreground become, with a page turn, two fish swimming in a sea turtle's wake. At "jungle green," a tiger crouches, peering from thick undergrowth. The page turn yields "khaki green" and a lizard whose pale, spotted body is camouflaged against similarly speckled and splotched earth. The rectangular die cut shared by the tiger and lizard spreads reveals that the words "jungle" and "khaki" are each embedded in the painted scenes: The die cut facilitates the discovery. "[G]low green" shows twilit children chasing tiny circles--luminescent fireflies--near a deep-red barn; with a page turn, the circles are now apples in a tree. The last quatrain--"all green / never green / no green / forever green" spans spreads that conclude in the orchard, near the red barn, with tiny die-cut leaves: on a new plant; on a mature tree. Seeger's paintings vary in perspective and even in perspicacity: For example, flowers and trees are stylistically more naïf than animals. In all, lovely, inventive, engrossing and interactive. (Picture book. 2-6)
…this book begs readers to stop and look, and then look again, discovering and delighting in the vast variety subsumed by a single word: green. In an era when the word has so many shades of meaning—from ecological to financial—it's refreshing to realize that it also stands for such breathtaking visual variety: pale as the skin of an earthworm, deep as the shade under a summer tree.
—Kristi Elle Jemtegaard
…one of those deceptively simple picture books that to the casual bookstore browser can seem to be about nothing much at all. But the reader who settles down and slowly pages through its gorgeous acrylic paintings or, better yet, reads it aloud to a young child, will find rich rewards.
—Pamela Paul
