Pomelo Explores Color by Ramona Badescue and Benjamin Chaud

After several readings, I became intrigued by Pomelo. It's certainly different, but it grows on you. So I thought I'd try out his next book. This one is different than the first, but still different in the same way, if you get my meaning.

First, it's an oddly formatted book. It's about 6x6 inches square and very thick and it has about 60 pages. It cycles through a variety of colors, starting with "When everything begins to seem black and white, Pomelo looks around and suddenly rediscovers...the silent white of the blank page."

It goes on through different whites, then yellows (I foresee some parents complaining about "the always different yellow of wee-wee"). Each different type of color nuance has a separate page. "the acidic yellow of lemon" is cute, with Pomelo having little shaky lines around him as he touches the lemon with his trunk. After yellow comes orange, "the melancholy orange of autumn" and then "the promising red of ripening strawberries". Some of the comparisons are solid objects, others are more abstract like "the explosive red of anger" and "the starry-eyed pink of romance." The book continues to cycle through brown, purple, blue, green, gray, and back to black. It ends with a rainbow.

The art has a distinctive European flavor. There are, of course, lots of strong, bold colors and lines but there's also odd shapes, unique to this artist's style. I think kids would like the small format and the different comparisons and colors, but some of the vocabulary seems very advanced for the age of child who normally reads concept/color books. Many of the comparisons seem to be more abstract as well.

Verdict: It's interesting, but I still can't decide if I want to buy it or not. Is it too old for its audience? Too European for my small town? I have put it into my backlist wishlist until I can decide.

ISBN: 9781592701261; Published October 2012 by Enchanted Lion Books; Borrowed from another library in my consortium