Living Color

 

Title: Living Color

Author/Illustrator: Steve Jenkins

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company

Living Color by Steve Jenkins is a great book that ties literacy and science into one great package.  With it bright colors it appeals to visual learners of all ages. On the other hand has taken and separated the animals of color into an organizing tool. Red, warns people and predators to stay away from chiggers and stonefish. However, provides protective coloration for the flaming scallop and the Shield bug. The bright color also helps for a male Hooded seal to impress the female seals. Other colors included in this book are blue, yellow, green purple and pink. Animals can be really colorful in this book. 

I like how the author takes a particular common cuttlefish and puts in two different color pages by just wrapping it around the page. It shows that it is the master of color change. It can turn from it's normal brownish color to green (or blue, pink or purple) in seconds.

I love how he has designed this book with all the information and cool facts that I didn't even know. I as an adult have learned so much and had fun doing it. Just imagine putting this book in the hands of a science student and letting them use this as a guide to writing. Things that they read and write about animals will expand their imagination to the extreme. 

It’s a buffet approach that doesn't try to make connections beyond color, but rather to visually appeal to the reader with the many colors and adaptations found in the natural world. The extra facts about coloration and thumbnails are a bonus they provide basic information about each animal in the book.This a great book to use in any elementary classroom for science or informational purposes.