Review by Kaylee123 -- What's Your Favorite Color?

[Kaylee Elmer]

[Following is a volunteer review of "What's Your Favorite Color?" by Amber L Lassiter.]

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

How can you paint a picture using your favorite color if you forgot to bring your paint to school? Amber encounters this problem in What’s Your Favorite Color? written by Amber L. Lassiter. In the book, Amber must figure out a way to borrow paint from her classmates without giving away her favorite color, which is supposed to be a secret. It’s a tough task. Will she succeed?

One useful feature of this book is that it includes active reading strategies, such as reading comprehension questions. The questions force students to use text evidence, make inferences, and understand why characters are acting a certain way. The questions help students use different skills. For example, “What can you tell about the order and pattern Mrs. Lassiter used to hang the students’ portraits?” This question has a pretty straightforward answer. They’re simply in alphabetical order. Another example is “How did Amber feel after she dabbed her paintbrush onto the flower petals? How do you know?” This question makes students infer how Amber was feeling. It’s a question you have to think about more. As someone who works in education, it’s convenient to have the questions right in the book. It’s hard to come up with questions off the top of your head sometimes. The questions are also great for parents who don’t have teaching experience but want to help their children learn at home.

I also enjoyed Lassiter’s writing style. She uses a lot of descriptive words. I could picture myself in Amber’s classroom without looking at the illustrations. She also uses quite a bit of figurative language. For example, she writes about the sun, “reflecting colors across the ceiling like a sparkling disco ball.” Or, “a white tarp covered the floor like sand on a beach.” This is so much more interesting to read than saying the sun shone in through the windows, or there was a tarp on the floor. These small touches make a big difference.

The only minor thing that bothered me about this book had to do with the reading comprehension questions. Some questions have a blank space to write answers, and some don’t. I couldn’t figure out a specific reason for this. But, an easy solution would be to use post-it notes while reading. That’s better than writing directly in the book anyways. Or, you can skip writing altogether and verbally discuss the questions.

This book is intended for children in first through third grade. The questions sprinkled throughout the story target those ages. However, I think this book would work for other ages, as well. I read What’s Your Favorite Color? to my three-year-old. I decided to skip the questions because I knew she wouldn’t understand them. She loved the story! It held her attention, which impressed me since she’s only three. I also think this book could benefit older elementary age students, or even middle schoolers, too. A lot of the questions asked had to do with body language and feelings. I work with students who don’t always read people well and have trouble with social cues. This book could definitely help them.

I’m happy to rate What’s Your Favorite Color? 4 out of 4 stars. It does precisely what the author wanted it to do. It helps children actively read. The story was entertaining, well-written, and the illustrations were bright and beautiful. The book was also exceptionally well-edited. I see no reason to rate it any lower.

I highly recommend this book to both teachers and parents. It’s a great book to use as a teaching tool, or just to read as a fun story. I personally can’t wait to read it to my kids again.

******
What's Your Favorite Color?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Rupali Mishra]

Many thanks for the excellent comment and suggestion.