Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman, illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski

Well-worn topics in children’s picture books - colors and seasons - find new life in Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman. Paired with Pamela Zagarenski’s glorious illustrations, the colors of the seasons leap off the page in a festival of vivid language that stretch the mind and stimulate the senses.


Sidman’s poetic language dares you to sense and see color and objects.

“Red swells
on branches bent low.
Red: crisp, juicy,
crunch!”

Did you envision apples? Throughout this delightful book, the author substitutes a color name for an object. For example, snow becomes “white” in the winter section.


“White whispers
f
 l
  o
   a
    t
     s
clumps
traces its wet finger on branches and stumps.
White dazzles day
and turns night
inside out.”

This technique transforms the poem into a guessing game and focuses attention on the specific language choices of the text. I always appreciate a children’s book that plays with lyrical language and advanced vocabulary. Sidman’s delightful book thoroughly celebrates the intricacies and auditory delight of language. She fearlessly presents advanced vocabulary words.

“And where is Blue?
Humming, shimmering,
Snoozing in the lazy haze.
Dancing on water
With Yellow and Green.
In summer,
Blue grows new names:
Turquoise,
                azure,
                             cerulean.”

Try saying, “humming, shimmering, snoozing” and feel the words in your mouth. Stretch them out as you repeat them and imagine how this delivery will engage young listeners and draw them in. Do your young students know the meaning of “shimmering” or, harder still, “cerulean” and “azure”? Probably not. Yet even the youngest listeners will respond to the richness and rhythm of the text and may leave the book with a new understanding of the advanced vocabulary presented so seamlessly within the text. After all, how many Beatrix Potter lovers grew up knowing the meaning of “soporific” as a result of The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies?

With its expansive and demanding word selection, Red Sings from Treetops is not necessarily a good book for early readers. Advanced readers who are already familiar with the text may be able to make their way through such challenges as “dolloped,” “sequined,” and “lustrous.” However, it is a wonderful, lyrical read aloud for both adult reader and young listener alike.

The vibrant paintings invite exploration and provide many connections between pages. Follow a cardinal, the “Red” of the title, as it flies between the pages accompanying an unnamed human character and a small dog through the progress of the seasons. In keeping with the whimsy and fantasy of the illustrations, the characters all wear crowns and are sometimes standing on wheels Textures and rubbings often peek from beneath the painted pages and print is frequently a part of the illustrations. For instance, a wheel is decorated with the word “circle” and the main character is adorned with various clothing patterned with the names of the seasons. Zagarenski’s fanciful illustrations were recognized when Red Sings from Treetops was named a 2009 Caldecott Honor Book.

So expand your already burgeoning color and season collection with this beautiful book. Its language and illustrations make a welcome addition to any library.