COLORS

The didactic duo Zoe the zebra and Zack the chameleon are back to teach artistically inclined toddlers the value of a varied palette.

This charming primer introduces preschoolers to six basic colors—blue, yellow, red, green, orange, and purple—as well as black and white, then demonstrates their utility in creating simple but pleasing representational images. Duquennoy has a gift for communicating simple, useful ideas to youngsters while cultivating a sense of excitement about visual expression. Here, he employs die-cut pages and inlaid acetate sheets to create surprise composite images that take shape when the page is turned and the pattern on the acetate combines with a pattern on the previous page. “Using the color blue, Zoe and Zack paint…”—here readers turn the page, so the acetate overlays the preceding page, and the blue blobs on each page combine to form—“…a seal on the ice.” With the color red, the two friends paint a fish, and with yellow, “the shining sun.” They also paint a green frog, an orange fox, a purple sea turtle, and a black wolf. On the final sheet of acetate, Zoe paints a multitude of white dots, which, readers learn upon turning the page, is snow in which the wolf can play.

Zack and Zoe’s evident joy and ease in painting should inspire young Riveras and Kahlos alike to make some art of their own.