Mouse Magic

This book reminds me of Hello Red Fox by Eric Carle in terms of concept, though the story is quite different. Hello Red Fox was only about complementary colors -- the story was about going to a birthday party and all the animals were shown in complementary colors (Red Fox was depicted in green) so the reader's eyes would do the "trick" and see the character in the "correct" color. Unfortunately, some people, myself included, were not able to "see" the colors no matter how we stared. However, I was easily able to see the effect here. In this book, a raven is teaching a mouse "magic" tricks using complementary colors. For example, mixing blue and yellow to make green, then using that green in a pattern with red. What happens is the colors move around in your field of vision. I am not sure that a young child would be able to understand this book without the help of an adult. But, with that help, I think the book does illustrate its point rather effectively. I also think it could have lots of applications for teachers to use with their classes when they teach about colors. There is an author's note at the end which explains the color wheel and primary, secondary, and complementary colors. I wish the author's note, or some other kind of explanatory device, were at the beginning of the book, though, because it would make it easier for kids to follow.