Growing Colors

My 3 year old slightly autistic son has never really taken to books about colors. I have tried for over a year to find a book that will excite him about colors. This book has done it for some reason. I don't know if it's because he can identify with the fruits and vegetables we pick out at the grocery or just what it is. He points to the pictures in the book and tries to say their color! To me it is a huge breakthrough! I love it that when we are done reading it and I tell him all done he says "again" so hopefully. We are currently reading this book at least 4 times a day. So, not only is this book teaching him his colors but it is a plus for speech for a non-verbal child.

I don't know exactly why, but my two-year-old really likes this book. If it were solely up to me, I'd rank it with one star less, but because of its enthusiastic reception by a member of its target audience, it graduates in my opinion from an "okay" book to a "good" one. The format is simple: a small photograph shows how each item of food grows, a large one shows a close-up of the produce, and the name of the color it represents is written- in that color- in big, bold letters on the page. There is one color/fruit or veggie featured per two-page spread. The variations from traditional associations were interesting and perhaps potentially confusing (purple string beans, brown bell peppers), but I'll tell you what-my toddler remains pretty jazzed about shopping for-and trying out-all kind of fruits and vegetables now, as well as having had his color concepts reinforced.