Colour me happy – Nonfiction Monday is here!

First I’m happy to welcome everyone to this week’s Nonfiction Monday event.  If you wish to link your blog please leave a comment and I’ll add you in during the day.

Second, I’m happy to introduce you to Red-Yellow-Blue: colors in art by Silke Vry (701.85 VrR 2011). I found this to be a very engaging look at the history of colour.  Organized by colour (black and white, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, violet, brown and gold) we find out how colors were used by artists from the earliest times, a little bit of science about light and colour, symbolism, mixing colours, and the colour wheel.  Silke Vry uses many works of art from various periods to illustrate her points, drawing us in and making us look closely.  She also presents questions, activities and experiments to make us think and experience various aspects of colour.

One of my favourite parts is the section about pink. Here we learn that pink’s association with girls is fairly recent (last 80 years) and that until then babies wrapped in pink blankets were boys.   I thought the blind-taste test of different red foods (tomato, red pepper, strawberries, etc.) was an interesting challenge.  And, during the Middle Ages the colour black was banned from pictures.

I would recommend this for grades 4-8.  This might be an art book but there are opportunities to bring in science and history.  Most enjoyable.


And, Happy Victoria Day! 


Here are today's Nonfiction Monday offerings:


At Books for Learning it's a springtime trip to a local pond that inspires a list of books including Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond, Pond Walk, and Looking Closely Around the Pond.


At Laurasalas, writing the world for kids reading All the Water In the World by George Ella Lyon, awes this blogger.


At Shelf-Employed, there's an intriguing offering, Seeing Red: the true story of blood by Tanya Lloyd Kyi.


At NC Teacher Stuff, Jeff looks at The Krakatau Eruption by Peter Benoit and its global impact. 


At SimplyScience Blog, Cool Engineering Activities for Girls by Heather E. Schwartz will teach and entertain.


At Jean Little Library, The Salmon Bears by Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read offers us an opportunity to enter the world of coastal bears living in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia.


At Gathering Books, Myra offers an engrossing memoir The House That Baba Built by Ed Young.


At Biblio File, read about a fascinating life cut short, Dan Eldon: Safari as a Way of Life by Jennifer New.


At Supratentorial, another biography offered by today's reviewers, Mrs. Harkness and the Panda by Alicia Potter.


At The Swimmer Writer, Police Dog Heroes by Linda Bozzo is recommended.


At The HappyNappyBookseller, read a review for Best Shot in the West by Patricia C. McKissack and Frederick L. McKissack Jr.


At Playing by the Book, a whole list of books about changing urban and rural landscapes over time is especially interesting as it includes a few international titles.  A couple of US titles are Street Through Time and Popville.


At All About the Books by Janet Squire we have a review for The Cornflake King by Edwin Brit Wyckoff.


At Patchwork of Books, a look at baby animals will put you in the mood for spring.  Cheetah and Gorilla by Suzi Eszterhas are reviewed.


At Booktalking Children's Books, we're going global with a look at What We Wear: Dressing Up Around the World by Maya Ajmer and company.


At Chapter Book of the Day, Hockey by Blain Wiseman will tie in nicely with Stanley Cup fever. (This review is appended to Booktalking Children's Books.)


At Nonfiction Book Blast, Lives of the Musicians by Kathleen Krull is featured.


At Perogies & Gyoza, Plant a Little Seed by Bonnie Christensen will definitely make you want to get out and start working in your garden.