PB Review: A New Green Day
A New Green Day by Antoinette Portis (Neal Porter/Holiday House, 40p., ages 3-7, 9780823444885)
From dawn to dark in this ever-so-satisfying picture book from the creator of Hey, Water! and Now, readers are treated to a series of poetically posed riddles which offer an evocative exploration of the sights and sounds, touches and smells a girl experiences one summer day.
"Morning lays me on your pillow,/ an invitation, square and warm./ Come out and play!" These first lines beckon readers to turn the page to find out who or what is speaking: sunlight. And, just like that, a pattern is established. Next up is snail asking the girl to "read all about my/ nighttime travels." A leaf follows and implores her to "follow my roads/ and climb." Inchworm, tadpole and pebble make appearances before rain moves in, accompanied by lightning and "the rumble/ in the stomach of the storm" that is thunder. Shadow gives way to darkness, “a black coat/ slipped around/ Earth’s shoulders,” as cricket, that “engine/ of the summer dark," thrums in the “new green day” of tomorrow.
Portis's digitally finished illustrations use brush, ink, leaf prints and charcoal with hand-stamped lettering. She poses her riddles in square swatches of color, using an earth-toned palette that echoes the pale yellow of sunlight through a window, the green of an inchworm, the deep blue-gray of a stormy sky. In its reverence for each finely described detail, A New Green Day holds a magnifying glass to the wonders, big and small, that are waiting in nature for all to enjoy. --Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI.
Discover: A series of riddles helps define the many small wonders of a summer day.
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