Common Sense Media Review
By Darienne Stewart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Delightful book reveals the magic of mixing colors.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 3+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
MIX IT UP! opens with a lone gray spot and instructions to tap it "just a little." Colorful dots burst onto the following pages. Readers are prompted to use their fingers and add a bit of one color to another to see what happens, then to tilt, shake, and squish pages to play with other combinations and effects.
Is It Any Good?
This is another bright, engaging book from French artist Hervé Tullet, who's something of a magician: He turns reading books into exciting, interactive play time. As he did with Press Here, Tullet marries a simple concept with a similarly simple style and conjures up an absorbing, rich book to delight children and their parents.
Even children who already know about primary and secondary colors will enjoy playing along with Tullet, who encourages them to tap, smoosh, tilt, and shake pages to make the magic happen. He sends them off with advice to "play, look, and mix it up," and end pages covered in colorful thumbprints are likely to inspire kids to go straight for paints and paper afterward.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about color combinations and explain primary and secondary colors. What color does yellow and blue make? How about blue and red?
Make your own version of the book or a poster inspired by it, experimenting with color combinations and patterns.
Find a pair of tinted sunglasses and see how colors appear different when you wear them.
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Hervé Tullet
- Genre : Colors
- Topics : Arts
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Chronicle Books
- Publication date : September 16, 2014
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 3 - 5
- Number of pages : 56
- Available on : Hardback
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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