  | Hello, red fox Author: Carle, Eric | |
| Price: $16.79 | ||
Summary:
Guests at Little Frog's birthday party include the red fox, the purple butterfly, the orange cat, and other colorful animals. The illustrations are designed to demonstrate the concept of complementary colors.
| Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: K-2 Reading Level: 2.20 Points: 2.0 Quiz: 05117 | ||
Common Core Standards
Grade K → Reading → RL Literature → K.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade K → Reading → RL Literature → K.RL Craft & Structure
Grade K → Reading → RL Literature → K.RL Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (02/01/98)
School Library Journal (-) (07/98)
Booklist (04/01/98)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (A) (07/98)
Full Text Reviews:
Bulletin for the Center... - 07/01/1998 Little Frog is having a birthday party, and he receives a menagerie of colorful visitors—Red Fox, Purple Butterfly, Orange Cat, and so on. The twist here is that the animals originally appear in their complementary colors (which explains the bright green fox on the cover), and Little Frog’s mother keeps thinking that her son has mistaken his guests. The illustrations may not disprove her view entirely, but they also support his. After an introduction (in which Carle explains and gives instruction in the creation of afterimages), each spread revealing an arriving friend provides a strongly contrasting complementary-colored figure on the left and white space on the right, so that the viewer “creates” the illustration that fits Little Frog’s description (matching the refrain “and, indeed, Little Frog was right!”). It’s an entertaining trick, sort of pre-tech Magic Eye effect, and kids will get a kick out of both the gimmick and the little frog who knows better than his mom. The images are awfully vague and evanescent (there’s also occasionally interference from the bright colors on the verso, which show through in the white space) and the game goes on a bit too long, however, which not only drags down the slender plot but also starts taking a toll on the eyes. Carle’s spring-garden colors tend to make their counterparts pale by comparison, though the softer hue works niftily on the final joke (“And Little Frog blushed”). There’s more gimmick than story here, but youngsters who gravitate to visual puzzles will want to cast an eye in the direction of this book. A note on Goethe’s color theories and a sample color wheel are included. - Copyright 1998 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
Booklist - 04/01/1998 Before the story begins, readers are instructed to stare at a dot inside a red heart for 10 seconds, then transfer their gaze to the opposite blank page. On that empty page, the heart shape reappears, but it is green, the opposite or complementary color. The very slight story is really just a reason to explore this phenomenon. Little Frog invites Red Fox, Purple Butterfly, Orange Cat, and others to his birthday party, but when they arrive, Mama Frog observes that the fox is green, not red, and the butterfly is yellow, not purple, and so on. In each case, Little Frog instructs his mother to examine the image of the animal, then look at the blank opposite page where the guest appears in the true color. The required looking time disrupts the flow of the story, but as an experiment, it is great fun. Facing the title page, there's a brief history and explanation of Goethe's Farbenlehre, or color theory, but curious children will want to know more than the information provided. A playful starting point for science discussions at home or at school, this is sure to intrigue children. (Reviewed April 1, 1998) - Copyright 1998 Booklist.
