Color My World! Red Is A Dragon: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong

Red is a dragon. Red is a drum.

Red are the firecrackers.

Here they come!

But that's not all that's red in this little girl's world. There are watermelons in summer, juicy and bright, and lychee nuts, a sweet treat.

But summer is also green, with growing kale, a gourd, and a toad. And on the sandy beach orange is the hue of a crab and a seashell or two, and her summer sneakers and the sparkly pools are blue.

With gentle and poetic rhyming quatrains, Roseanne Thong's Red Is a Dragon: A Book of Colors (Chronicle Books) takes young readers "over the rainbow" of colors around the year and around the color wheel, a book that is a pleasure to the eye and to the ear. The youngest children will want to point out the objects with the featured color on each page, ranging from as pink as a peony to as brown as Dad's hat when the girl tries on.

The story begins with a Chinese New Year holiday parade and introduction to some Chinese words, but is universal in it lovely illustrations by Grace Lin of children at play in familiar outdoor fun. Author Roseanne Thong includes a picture glossary of some of the possibly unfamiliar words such a "lychee" and "jade" for primary graders reading it solo.  This one is a unique sort of concept book for teaching color recognition along with an introduction to new vocabulary and customs, especially when used as an intro to Chinese New Year, recommended for school and public library children's collections.