Purple Everywhere

By: Kristin Sterling
Publisher: Lerner Classroom
Publication Date: August 2010
ISBN: 978-0761360452
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: September 2010

A girl leans over into some purple salvia to smell and admire it because “purple is magical” and is “a color of unusual beauty.” If you look around you, perhaps you’ll see lots of purple in your environment. In this book you can see two girls getting ready to side down a purple slide and can see the beautiful, rich color on the skins of eggplants. If you are thinking about healthy snacks you can select purple grapes like Patrick. If you glance at the sky toward the evening, “sometimes the sky turns purple as the sun sets.” If you are lucky enough to see a copper butterfly, you can easily see that the top side is a coppery-orange and the undersides are a silvery-bluish color with black spots, but “their wings look purple in the sunlight.”

In the spring you can gather up purple lilacs to make “bouquets for your family or friends” and in the summer beautiful purple Japanese irises can fill fields. The color purple can also be seen on the seaside, under the waves and on the shore. You can look at sea stars that “are a bold purple color” or watch “purple crabs scoot across the shore.” In this book you will learn that long ago purple was the “color of royalty” and that they were the only people who could afford to wear it. You’ll learn what the saying “Born to the Purple” means, you’ll learn about the colors you need to mix to make purple, you’ll get to see several different shades of purple, you’ll get to see it on a rainbow, and will be able to see several places Patty finds purple in her life!

This is an excellent book to introduce the young student to the color purple and where they may find it. This is one book in the series, “Colors Everywhere,” that will make an excellent series to add to library or classroom shelves. The photographs are vibrant, well chosen and the addition of a mini story entitled “Patty Loves Purple,” that shows purple in her own environment will make it especially interesting to a young audience. In the back is an excellent step-by-step activity called “Color Me a Carnation” that will teach children how to blend the color blue and red to produce purple. This type of hands-on activity will prove to be a big hit. In the back there is an index, a glossary, an additional recommended website and book resources to explore.

Quill says: If you are looking for an excellent series to introduce basic color concepts to the young student in your homeschool or classroom, the series “Colors Everywhere” is an excellent one to consider!