• Age: 3 to 6
• Grade: p to 1

Noted poet Jorge Lujan and South Africa's illustrious illustrator Piet Grobler teamed up to produce this exquisite celebration of color.

As day turns into night, we are given fleeting, evocative glimpses of the qualities inherent in a range of colors. An antelope and some children are pictured inhabiting this delicate world.

This bilingual, bicultural book presents us with a beautiful vision of a planet in which nature, words, and the rising and setting of the sun and the moon exist in harmony.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.5
Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6
With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

Jorge Luján is an author, poet and musician who has published forty-four books and recorded eight CDs. With many of the world’s greatest illustrators, he has created an outstanding body of work — translated into 15 languages — including Stephen and the Beetle, illustrated by Chiara Carrer; Doggy Slippers and Numeralia, illustrated by Isol; Colors! ¡Colores!, illustrated by Piet Grobler; Moví la mano / I Moved My Hand, illustrated by Mandana Sadat; and Brunhilda and the Ring, illustrated by Linda Wolfsgruber. Jorge has just published his first novel, Salando el río con una cucharita (Salting the River with a Teaspoon). Among other distinctions, he has won the Premio de Poesía para Niños de ALIJA (IBBY Argentina) and has been nominated four times for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. See more of his work on Facebook (Jorge Luján. Poesía y Música), on the Jorge Luján YouTube channel, on his Bandcamp page, Soundcloud and jorgelujan.net.

Jorge Luján's profile page

PIET GROBLER is a world-renowned South African illustrator of children’s books. He has illustrated ninety five books, which have been published in many languages, and he has won a number of awards, including two silver medals at the Noma Concours (Japan), the Octogone de Chêne (France) and a Golden Apple at the Biennial of Illustration in Bratislava. He lives in Portugal and is the visiting Professor in Illustration at the University of Worcester, in the United Kingdom.

Piet Grobler's profile page

JOHN OLIVER SIMON (1942-2018) was a poet and translator from Berkeley, California. Among other accolades, he was awarded the NEA Translation Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Berkeley Poetry Festival.

John Simon's profile page

REBECCA PARFITT is a translator who lives in DeKalb, Illinois.

Rebecca Parfitt's profile page

Flowing watercoiors and charming rhymes in English and Spanish combine to convey the colors of the natural world with simple yet sophisticated grace...The imagery in both words and pictures is often richly original...A lovely book to share, reflect upon and linger over.

Kirkus Reviews

Unusually lyrical-visually and verbally-this is a 'concept book' that will take children beyond simple colour identification and into an appreciation more profound and rare: for the colours and beauties of nature, and for the colours and beauty of metaphor.

Toronto Star

The language is by turns playful, contemplative and exuberant but always imbued with a subtle lyrical quality...This book pairs Lujan's text with the equally strong illustrations of Piet Grobler...Grobler's watercolour illustrations combine small whimsically detailed figures with loose wide bleeds of colour, each one managing to reflect the mood of the text perfectly. This is a lush and beautiful book...The English text is flawless while still preserving a subtle sense of linguistic magic and surprise...the book is captivating, aesthetically rich, linguistically fine-tuned, masterful...profoundly appealing...accessible for a preschool audience, [and] the originality and strength of the images will give it continued appeal for a primary school audience...a valuable resource for many classrooms and libraries...[a] success as a bilingual text. Highly Recommended.

CM Magazine