Colors of Nature

In this introduction to the seasons of the year, a child explores a colorful, surreal landscape with many oversized features. This white tyke, with short-cropped auburn hair and accompanied by an orange tabby cat in each scene, paddles a tiny rowboat between giant lily pads to encounter a gigantic frog as the pithy text reads: "Green spring shoots and buds." On the next double-page spread, the same kid scales the extra-large flowers trailing down the side of a three-story watering can accompanied by another line of unrhymed verse with color words set in the appropriate hue. Each season is allotted two double-page spreads as the youngster rides a giant fish or imagines rabbit-shaped clouds in summer and stares in awe at enormous autumn leaves or plays among giant pumpkins in the fall. Only winter gets short shrift, with one sole double-page spread in which the protagonist builds a giant snowperson. While Riggs's text is lyrical and economical, Domeniconi's digitally created art in soft, rich tones is the star, using surreal but realistic images that seem to glow from within. An amicable almanac.

Kirkus Reviews , July 2017

Grabby, grubby little hands can make fast work of delicate books, ripping pages and tearing dust jackets not with malice but with enthusiasm. This spring's bountiful board books, (most) designed to endure and (most) intended for the youngest children, make enjoying stories and concepts a less destructive experience. Surreal proportions and vivid hues give pizzazz to Paolo Domeniconi's seasonal pictures in Colors of Nature. Kate Riggs makes the most of the brief text with evocative words, such as "sparkles," "crackles," "creeps," and "freezes."

Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal , April 2017