Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors

Bibliography
Sidman, Joyce. 2009. Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors. Ill. by Pamela Sagarenski. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children ISBN 978-0-547-01494-4


Plot Summary
Red Sings from Treetops daintily describes each season, beginning with spring and ending with winter, through cheery verse, emphasizing colors and seasonal beauties.


Critical Analysis
Illustrations play an enormously important role in this book. The author personifies the colors (ie. "Red sings from the treetops") and the reader must look at the illustration to see that "red" is a red bird. The illustrations have beautiful details, such as the use of what appear to be old book pages incorporated through the designs, as well as layering of patterns and colors to give it a quilt-like look. This book is great to read one-on-one with a child because of the conversation and question the text and illustrations may lead to. However, it may be more difficult to read to a large group of children due to the intricacies of the illustrations and what an important role those intricacies play in the understanding of the story.


Review Excerpts
2010 Caldecott Honor Book


Connections
*Read this book outside and point out the colors in the nature around you
*Create a scavenger hunt to follow this book that includes seasonally appropriate, colorful items, such as a green blade of grass in the summer or a brown, fall leaf