Colors! ¡Colores!

by Jorge Luján, Piet Grobler (Illustrations)

Noted Mexican poet Jorge Luján and South Africa’s illustrious illustrator Piet Grobler have teamed up again to produce this exquisite celebration of color. As day turns into night, young readers see fleeting, evocative glimpses of the qualities inherent in a range of colors. An antelope and a group of children are pictured inhabiting this delicate world. This bilingual book presents a gorgeous vision of a planet in which nature, words, and the rising and setting of the sun and the moon exist in harmony.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Childrens, Spanish Literature, Art, Nonfiction, Cultural

36 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2008

About the author

Also known as Jorge Elías Luján.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that this book is bi-lingual and encourages children to explore both languages at the same time and perhaps among themselves. The watercolor illustrations of the natural world are lovely. My favorite poem is the one for the color black. Here it is:

Night has put on
her black gown,
so the eyes of the universe
can shine more brightly.

La noche se la puesto
su vestido negro
para que luzcan más bellos
los ojos del universo.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really lovely book. My personal favorite:

Yellow
rolls
through
the
sky
like
a
warm
gold
coin.


Love love love this.

[Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful bilingual picture book about colors.

Read with my 7yo for our Languages elective.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely all around.

[Lightwhisper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Achei as suas ilustrações muito bonitas, como se fossem pinturas a guache, história simples.

[Class 305 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This bilingual book has wonderful pictures. The translation of poem in both languages is good. I especially loves the poem for the color black. Wonderful book to read to class also during poetry month.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations with wonderful poems.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

diverse picture book (bilingual English/Spanish; colors; preschool ages 3-6).
*Book prominently features diverse characters: Maybe not prominently, but not tokenly either: more than half of the spreads don't include people, but the ones that do feature dark-skinned children (I'm not counting the personification of Night as an actual person). The bilingual quality also goes a long way to include other cultures, though I am not fluent enough to speak for their translations. The author is (according to the book jacket) one of Mexico's "foremost authors for children" and the illustrator is "South Africa's most celebrated illustrator for children."
* Book would work for a preschool storytime: yes, though this is a quieter story that best would suit older kids (who are accustomed to sitting through circle time).
* Book would work for "colors" theme, but some of the colors are harder to identify and it doesn't work as well for audience participation--"beige" is not in most children's vocabulary and will need to be given by the reading, the watercolor of the "green" looks kind of blue/turquoise-ish, while the "red" is overshadowed by oranges in another spread. There are also some small inconstencies: one little girl's eyes, according to the text, are blue, but the picture shows a dark-skinned girl with black hair and black eyes.

[Camille Rickis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each page of this picturebook has a different color focus described in very flowery and beautiful language, accompanied by gorgeous watercolor illustrations which incorporate all shades of the focused color. The book covers every color in the typical rainbow, with text in both English and Spanish. This book can be extremely valuable for helping children become familiar with words in Spanish, and the translated text along with the colorful and descriptive illustrations make the book ideal to learn words for the different colors of the rainbow.

[Teresa Selders · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for readers pre-k through second grade.(ages 3-6). I like this book because it is a good calm reading book for children. I would use this in my library because it reinforces the teaching of the colors and by doing so it also talks about the earth and nature. Its a good way for children to learn about both at the same time. It also has two translations.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short expressive poems, creative art that is lovely in its own way, bilingual concept book that is also an ode to nature. What's not to love?

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really beautiful.

[Erin Stuhlsatz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was lovely. Warren wasn't super into it, except for ripping a page. Beige. No accounting for taste!

[Eddie Garcia]

this bilingual book is a great way to teach kids about colors and how they come together.

[Goshen PL Childrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read at Cuentos en Español on June 22, 2022
Theme: Colores

[Claire Johnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, the author includes descriptions of different colors and where they're found in the world in both Spanish and English.

[Edmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simplistic, sometimes inaccurate in translation but good and fun ways to teach colors in Spanish to a baby.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this together.

Luisa: 4 out of 5 stars. I really like it because I learned some new Spanish words. I liked it because I didn't know Spanish and now I am learning.

Logan: 2 and 1/2 stars out of 5. I kind of liked it because I got to learn a few things I didn't know. This book is in English and Spanish

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This bilingual, bicultural book creates a vision of a planet in which nature, words and the rising and setting of the sun and the moon exist in harmony. Mexican poet, Jorge Luján produced this exquisite celebration of color. As day turns into night, young readers see glimpses of the qualities in a range of colors. An antelope and a group of children are pictured inhabiting this world. This bilingual book presents a gorgeous vision of a planet in which nature, words, and the rising and setting of the sun and the moon exist in harmony. This book would be good for young children ages 5 to 6 with an adults help. This is a picture book that is also a bilingual, multi-language book. It can be a confusing book for some but also a very educational book. This book would be appealing to a lot or most young children because it is different than other books. The illustrations in the book are very well put together and I think readers would enjoy looking at them. I would recommend this book to all young readers because it would give them a chance to see something a little different.

[Aris · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I saw a lake.
I saw a flower.
I saw the twilight.
...Violet!"

Jorge has written a book, in poem form, about different colors he sees. He wrote the poems in English and Spanish. The poem feels like it jumps from rhyming to free verse (in both languages) but fits well together, has some rhythm and almost feels like song. Jorge definitely makes good use of the senses to detail each color's experience. The illustrations also fit in well with each verse, depicting each color in predominance and the typography also changes when the color changes.

This is a great book if you want to discuss senses and colors with Pre-k - K, if you want to teach adjectives and descriptive writing to 2nd-3rd graders or if you want to introduce poetry as a genre Pre-K - 3rd grade.

Great book and keeps readers engaged!

[NS Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a children's color book that has dual language text (Spanish and English). It describes each color using parts of the universe that people from both culture could relate to. I really liked how it used metaphors such as yellow being a "gold coin that rolls through the sky" or the sun. The illustrations were also very powerful. It looks like it is watercolor paint. For each color described, that color of paint is the main color used in the picture

[SL · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice bilingual tale that blends the concept or colors and poetry. I wasn't expecting much from this one but it surprised me in a good way. I could see this being used for story time to teach about colors and to maybe use for poetry exercises for teachers and/or librarians. The Spanish translation was also done well.

[Robert J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. Beautiful illustrations and each color is described in poetic verse in English followed by Spanish. A nice early introduction to colors, poetry and Spanish, or English for the Spanish speaking child.

[Lucyˎˊ˗ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que hermosos dibujos, y que lindos poemas.

[Joshua Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colors is a very good book that has lots of short lines about many of the colors that students recognize. On each page there is also a translation of English to Spanish to kids that speak either language are able to read the book and see how to speak the same words in the other language too. I enjoyed this book as I am able to speak both English and Spanish because it provides many kids a way to in a way learn some pieces of the other language and it shows such a simple thing such as color to be so beautiful.