cover image Summertime Rainbow: A Bilingual Book of Colors

Summertime Rainbow: A Bilingual Book of Colors

Belle Yang. Candlewick, $6.99 (24p) ISBN 978-0-7636-5280-7

Three pudgy gouache rabbits explore the colorful marvels of spring in this bilingual book with words in English and Mandarin Chinese characters. Loosely outlined in black, the rabbits have a simple elegance that echoes the mood of quiet observation. The rabbits see “flowers like yellow stars,” mistake a purple butterfly for a flower, and spot a rainbow: “Ah! A spray of blossoms in the sky.” Endnotes provide pinyin pronunciations for the story and an explanation of Chinese tonal marks. Available simultaneously: A Nest in Springtime: A Bilingual Book of Numbers. Ages 1–4. Agent: Deborah Warren, East-West Literary Agency. (Apr.)