Sky Color - Peter H. Reynolds - ★★★★.¼

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AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Peter H. Reynolds
SERIES: Creatrilogy
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: August 28, 2012
RATING: 4.25 stars.


In a Nutshell: A beautiful picture book about thinking beyond the box. Cute story and gorgeous illustrations. Recommended!


Plot Preview:
A little girl named Marisol loves to share her art with the world. So when the opportunity comes to paint a mural for the school library, she is an enthusiastic volunteer. She has chosen the paint the sky for the mural, but she soon realises that the colour box has no blue paint. How can she colour the sky without blue?


This is a lovely story that is delightful to the mind and the heart.

Mirasol is a wonderful lead in so many ways. I love how the book establishes her personality first by showing how she shares her art with others. And later, when she learns about the missing blue paint, we also learn how calm she is in the face of uncertainty. She doesn’t cry or throw a tantrum or yell or accuse. She merely contemplates the matter and starts thinking of a solution. A worthy attitude to have.

Mirasol’s solution is simple but very effective. It shows how most problems can be solved if we start thinking of workable alternatives instead of insisting on the original plan. The importance of flexibility in planning is often underestimated. The story also highlights how we often take some common things for granted without really opening our eyes to them.

The illustrations are also a treat, which shouldn’t come as a surprise for a book centred around art. Surprisingly, the colours are somewhat minimal in most of the pages, with the foreground art mostly in monochrome. There are only teensy splashes of colour here and there. As such, when Mirasol finally figures out how to paint the sky, the resultant mural appears even more striking in its vivid hues.

Definitely recommended. This would be a wonderful book to have in homes as well as classrooms (for discussions on creative thinking), suiting readers aged 4-8 years.

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