This Book Is Red

February 1, 2018
"This book is RED," says the cover of the picture book, except the word "RED" happens to be the color violet.The Australian import follows a pattern familiar to readers of other books in the Books That Drive Kids Crazy! series. The narrator begins by trying to convince young readers that the different colors in the book--as represented by the green frog, the black-and-white penguin, and the red rose, among others--are all red. The blurb on the back cover goes so far as to enlist the help of adults to "convince the nearest kid that everything in this book is actually red. And we mean everything," which makes the book a fun endeavor for adult and child alike. The design, too, is much like the other books in the series: most versos consist of a solid color that makes up the background, overlaid with bold text, and there's a white page opposite them. Each white page has an object or two on it, which the narrator invariably insists is red. The Stantons' narrative is witty, silly, and interactive. The circuitous logic adds to the hilarity of the situation. For instance, the page with the penguin holding a rose reads "Roses are red. So Rose the penguin is red. Are you calling me a liar?" The book finally ends with a play on the words "red" and "read," if only to prove that the narrator was right all along.A rollicking read for children and adults alike. (Picture book. 4-8)

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May 14, 2018
In this third installment of the Books That Drive Kids Crazy! series, an unseen narrator asserts that a yellow crown, green tie, and purple glasses are “all RED! And by the end of this book you will think they are red too.” In fact, the narrator argues that just about everything in the book is actually red—including a frog and penguin appearing in their spare graphics. The authors employ a variety of deductive arguments and logical fallacies: “Fergus is the same color as this apple. Apples are red. See! Fergus must be red.” The assertions can be not only aggravating, but feel personal, to boot: “When you were a baby you thought spoons were airplanes. You were wrong then and you’re wrong now!” A rather smug conclusion introduces the homonyms of “red” and “read.” Readers who talk back to the voice of the deceitful, know-it-all “grown-up” are interpreting the story just right. Ages 4–8.

March 15, 2018
Preschool-G More gleeful cognitive foolery from the creators of This Is a Ball and Did You Take the B from My _ook? (both 2017). From the cover on, the book insists that a multitude of objects are red (most of them are not). In the face of the argumentative responses that young audiences will definitely make to such blatant absurdity, the increasingly irritated narrator resorts to insult and then the old grown-up standby, THEY ARE RED BECAUSE I SAID SO! The exchange eventually closes with a weak attempt to save face: This book is definitely red. Yes, it is. We just read it. Cue the groans. A storytime winner, with bright colors and big, simple cartoon illustrations that are suitable for sharing with groups large or small, as well as single listeners.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
In another meta offering from the Stantons (This Is a Ball etc.), an unseen narrator tries to convince readers not only that this book is red (it's not), but that its featured cartoonish animals and objects are colors they're not ("Roses are red. So Rose the penguin is red"). The narrator's leaps of (il)logic and defensiveness ("Are you calling me a liar? Ouch") are unremittingly funny.

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