Review of LIVING COLOR by Steve Jenkins

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jenkins, Steve. LIVING COLOR. 2007. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0618708979

2. PLOT SUMMARY

This nonfiction book discusses how animals that have brilliant colors use this characteristic to help their species survive. The author cleverly uses bright illustrations to show various living things that possess the featured colors, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, and pink. The author uses the phrase “(substitute color) says…” to highlight each page. He then shows the various creatures and tells how this color helps them survive. Such as, pink, for the parrotfish, signals to females, which are not pink, that this parrotfish is a male. He devotes two pages for each color, which includes about twelve animals. At the end, he includes a page with more general information about animals and color. He also provides a glossary with the length, habitat, and diet of each featured animal, along with a small picture beside it.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This nonfiction book will appeal to children of all age levels. Even if they can’t read, they will love the illustrations. The author, who also is the illustrator, uses cut-paper collage. This book is strikingly beautiful. The illustrations are vibrantly colored and pure pleasure for the eye.

The book is simplistic, with not too much text. The text included is cleverly written and will make any student want to read about how each animal or creature uses their color to survive and even thrive. Using the huge bold text in the color he’s describing will catch everyone’s attention. He repetitively uses the color name with the word “says…” He then uses catchy phrases in smaller text using the same color. He puts the explanation in black and uses even smaller text. This really makes it interesting and easy to read.

The book contains no Table of Contents. The book contains no sources to check for the accuracy of the text. The back contains a glossary which gives each animals length, habitat, and diet, with a small colored picture of each of the featured animals. The author does list four other books that students can go to find out more about animals and their color.

I really enjoyed this book because of the cleverness in the writing and the beautiful illustrations it contains.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL review: "Another amazing work by a master illustrator." SLJ Starred 10/2007.

BOOKLIST review: “It's difficult to imagine a science topic better suited to picture-book form than this one, which offers a pageant of the most stunning, vividly hued creatures on the planet. ...From the pink fairy armadillo to the purple deep-sea dragonfish, readers will be fascinated by the panoply of critters that often seem the stuff of fairy lore, and educators will applaud the clever concept of presenting survival adaptations as a biological fashion show.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Right before a field trip to the zoo, this book should be read. Have students see how many animals from the book they locate at the zoo. They could also write down new animals they found at the zoo that use their color to survive. They could even take pictures with cameras or cell phones and print them off to show and display. When they return to school, have a day of discussion about what they saw. Post pictures and make a display.

Students can pick a color of their own and research animals that use this color to help them survive. The class could make their own color book to display. They could also use a color named in the book, but they have to find new animals to focus on.

Students might want to research other unusual physical characteristics that a particular species has the helps it survive. The skunk can blast predators with horrible smelling spray, or the armadillo has a hard shell that protects it from predators. Students could collect pictures of their animals and explain the characteristic. They could present and make a display.