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Book Summary

Reviewed by Patricia Tauzer

A small penguin named Edna imagines a world that is more than simply white, blue, and black. She dares to look beyond the ordinary for other colors that might exist, and she never gets tired of looking. What she finds one day changes her forever.

Is It Any Good?

3

Antoinette Portis makes such an important point with such a simple story and such equally simple illustrations. "White...like yesterday," the little penguin says, looking at the world around her. And, "black. Like tomorrow." Then, "blue, blue, blue. Forever." In those short little lines on the 3 opening pages, the stage is set. The colors of Edna's world are basic and unchanging.

But then her search begins. Bold black lines create strong images against the otherwise snowy world and move the story along without extra explanation about whys and wherefores. And the couple of tiny colorful details added here and there speak louder than words. For example, the tiny orange plane that flies into the corner of one page shows just how startling any unusual color would be in such a snowy world. And, when Edna doesn't see it, the reader almost wants to yell at her: "Turn around, turn around! You're missing it!" But then, of course, she goes over the hill and, well, makes her own discovery.

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