Roald Dahl's colours illustrated by Quentin Blake
Penguin Books, 2019. ISBN: 9780241370315.
(Age: 1-5) Highly recommended. Board book. Themes: Colours. Another
stunning board book featuring the captivating illustrations by
Quentin Blake from Roald Dahl's stories for older children. These
will make the book familiar to adults reading it aloud, and will be
a fabulous introduction to the world of Roald Dahl for children.
Each of the double page spreads features a coloured background for
the colours chosen, pink, red, green, blue, purple, orange, grey and
yellow. For example, pink for 'I see plenty of peculiar porky pink
pigs' has hilarious pictures of pigs against a beautiful pink
background. Of course the famous 'green enomous crocodile hungry for
his lunch' features against a lovely lime green background. Only one
of the little people racing away from the snapping crocodile has a
green shirt and this will be a fun way for the adult to show that
there are different shades of green. This is also true of the dark
orange coloured fox against an vivid orange background. It was
interesting to see the colour grey featured and many children will
identify with the idea of a grey suit or grey trousers.
The description of each items associated with the colour is in a
bold black print which makes it easy to remember and there is a
special touch at the end with a gorgeous lift the flap featuring 'a
yellow giraffe with a neck that goes up . . . up . . . up!' Its
construction is also very sturdy with hard boards for heavy use.
This is a fun introduction to colours for children and is sure to
become a favourite.
Pat Pledger