Steve Light

I loved the illustrations in this! The story is about a girl who loves planes. In a [b:Where the Wild Things Are|19543|Where the Wild Things Are|Maurice Sendak|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327878051s/19543.jpg|3020535]-ish plot, Zephyr gets in trouble and is sent to her room (there's a funny wordless set of panels where she even has to relinquish her gum as punishment). Then she finds a secret little door that leads to her fantasy come true...a hangar full of flying machines! She flies an especially interesting looking plane, crash lands, and spies some highly improbable creatures through her binoculars. After a brief adventure with the improbable creatures, Zephyr makes it home in time for breakfast.… (more)

The first time I read Black Bird Yellow Sun, I was not impressed. I read it primarily focusing on the colors. The book contains all of the primary and secondary colors, along with pink and gray. But, like all children's books, I read it multiple times. I noticed how the order follows the day of the bird, from sunrise to sunset, and flows from one page to another. The bird plays in the green grass, but then a red snake appears, and it flies away to the grey mountains. I started to appreciate the book more. It's still not deep, but you could imagine a story. On each page, there is a black bird and an orange worm. I pointed them both out, teaching gestures. Some children may enjoy the search and find the worm.

Recommended age: 0-2 years

Writing style: The text is straightforward. Each page begins with "Black Bird" and then follows with another colored object, like "Blue Moon."

Lexile range (unofficial): 10L - 200L
Decoding difficulty: 2/5
Vocabulary difficulty: 1/5
Sentences difficulty: 1/5
Patterns difficulty: 1/5

Illustration style: The illustrations are a collage. The backgrounds use thick paint, textured like a sponge pressed into the page and lifted. The bird and worm are cut out of cardboard and placed (usually) on top.

Reality-based: Sure. There isn't much of a story here, but everything flows if you think of a bird going about its day.… (more)