Baby's First Book of Birds and Colors by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes

This handsome board book presents both birds and colors beautifully. Useful for toddling birders in need of board books about colors.

Bird-loving readers will probably feel that the space could have been put to better use by giving white birds their own page or adding a purple martin. This may serve as a reprise but will probably be skipped over. The final spread shows children (one white, one black, one Asian) assembling a puzzle that includes the same birds. The cover image, of a cardinal, goldfinch, and bluebird in a birdbath, is not nearly as inviting as the images within. Colors featured are from the standard box of crayons, except that pink is substituted for purple.

These details will be lost on most toddlers, but caregivers will appreciate being able to answer questions knowledgeably. The names of the trees they perch upon are identified in a note on the back cover.

Whether the bird shown is male or female, or if the male and female have similar coloring, is also indicated. The name of each color is printed in large font, while the name of each bird is in a much smaller one. A scarlet tanager and a cardinal, both male, perch in a red maple tree a male Eastern bluebird and a blue jay appear with morning glories and blueberries. The two birds presented on each spread not only are of similar coloration, but also live in the same North American habitat. Gorgeous birds amid foliage of similar hues introduce eight basic colors. As she often does, Tildes concludes the book with a spread featuring human children, though it feels overly posed and visually jarring beside the preceding pages. The birds are labeled by name and sex, and they perch in and around foliage that helps make the pages explode with color: an eastern bluebird sits on a birdhouse entwined with morning glories, a thrush and wren scavenge for food on a forest floor dotted with brown leaves and mushrooms, and a downy woodpecker does its thing on a birch's flaky white bark. Tildes ( Baby Animals Take a Bath ) pairs nine colors (if one counts black and white) with birds that show off each hue. Each bird is color coded and has a name and gender for children to easily identify. The color word appears large and bold, and each bird is labeled by name, as are ﬂowers, fruits, and foliage. The colorful world of birds! Birds come in all different shapes, sizes, and yes, colors, too!įrom the eastern bluebird and blue jay to the scarlet tanager and northern cardinal, little ones will discover the natural world and learn the names and colors of Phyllis Limbacher Tildes's exquisitely illustrated birds in their natural habitats.

Baby's First Book of Birds and Colors by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes