My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

This book is an amazing book of poems about colors. It has similes, metaphors, and a plethora of other pieces of figurative language. Throughout the book, it brings vivid and metaphorical descriptions of a variety of different colors. As a teacher with my students, we read each book and looked for the literal lines versus the figurative lines. Then, we wrote color poems of our own. I think this book is a beautiful representation of a book of poems for children. It helps children think of colors in new ways and look for beautiful, poetic pieces of writing.

Poetry that plays with the color of physical things and emotions as well.

I read this book for the first time today after receiving it as a gift from one of my teachers. I absolutely loved Hailstones and Halibut Bones because it had at least 3 pages dedicated to every color which included fun examples and colorful pages. I believe this book is a great poetry book for kindergarten and first grade aged children because it's very colorful which draws the kids attention to the pages and gives many examples of all the colors which helps kids learn more about what the colors are, where you see them most, and also how to spell the colors. This book gives children a chance to expand their vocabulary and learn a few bigger, popular words that they might not see as often and gives them a chance to identify the colors of certain items. I will definitely keep this book to include in my classroom library to read to my children in the future.

It was very good and I would feel the colors because of the perfect metaphors.

Do you think you hate poetry? Mary O'Neill's classic book, Hailstones and Halibut Bones, will make you rethink your stance. Promise. Surely you have a favorite color... C'mon, you know you do, everyone does! Maybe you even have a few. Do you ever dream in this color or imagine all the things in the world that make this color the one that is so beautiful to you? This book of poems will engage your mind's eye with its vivid watercolor illustrations and evocative imagery and will get even the poetry-skeptic thinking, "Hmmm, so this is what poetry can do."

All of the poems are entitled "What is __?" and the blank space is filled in with a color from blue to pink to gold to gray. Each poem is a reflection on this rainbow of colors - and is bordered by brilliant watercolors that add depth to O'Neill's poetry and help the reader envision each rich description in her mind's eye. The poems explore the visual world of color by engaging and surprising all of our senses. We can imagine purple personified as "the great-grandmother to pink." We touch the soft pussy willow that is gray. We can taste the sweetness of "brown is cinnamon." We can smell the orange warmth "of a bonfire burning." We can hear white as "the sound / Of a light foot walking" or "a pair of / Whispers talking," And we can feel that purple feeling that "is rather put-out / The purple look is a / Definite pout," just as much as we can see that "Red is a sunburn / Spot on your nose, sometimes red / Is a red, red, rose." The poetry in Hailstones and Halibut Bones will delight even the senses you would never imagine could be stirred by reading a poem.

Named after the poem, "What is White?" Hailstones and Halibut Bones which, of course, are white, will inspire your creativity and make you want to paint, daydream in blues from periwinkle to navy, and even, perhaps, write your own poetic meditation on your most beloved color. And, for all of you who claim to not like or "get" poetry, I promise this book will change your mind.

* If you've read Hailstones and Halibut Bones, love it as much as I do, and are left wanting more color-full poetry, you must check out this blog for some great recommendations:
http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.co...

A book of poems about color.... Perhaps the most remembered book of my childhood. I recommend to anyone having a baby or for a gift, if you can find it in print.

My favorite poem is Orange.... or maybe Red.

This is another book that tugs at my heartstrings. It is a book that my mother and I spent hours reading. It is a great descriptive book of colors and objects. It would be great for teaching adjectives.

I was given the Wallner edition.. The pictures are lovely. But I can't rate the book. It reminds me of The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown. I should love both of them, but I actually despise them. Why?

Because they *decree.* "Content is gray, and sleepiness, too." Says who!? *I* say sleepiness is a warm brown, tbh. ... So, ok, yes, both books could be used in a classroom to inspire creative writing. Fine. Teach thus: "In Brown's opinion... in O'Neill's opinion... How do you feel about these colors, these things?"

But still. If the full book is shared before the students start to write, I'm concerned that their own creativity would be stifled. I *know* mine is. Any attempt I would make now would certainly be only a reaction, a response, nothing fresh or creative.

And also, many children encountering it don't even have that guidance. They're definitely reading it as Established Wisdom. And I honestly don't think either Brown or O'Neill intended that. So, too bad, sorry, but: Fail.

You ever find that book that just gets you? Despite being written in the 60s, and me being a child of the 90s, I vibed with this book the way peanut butter vibes with jelly. The way Paula Deen vibes with butter. The way clouds vibe with skyscrapers. The concept is so simple, yet startling unique - colors have thoughts, feelings, sounds, tastes, preferences, animals, scents, songs, and textures that represent them. I loved every weird, wonderful moment. If you can snag an earlier edition with Weisgard's illustrations, it's worth the extra cash.

Not the best poetry ever, but still good for getting children's imaginations going! I enjoyed the original illustrations by Leonard Weisgard, but I'm interested in reading the edition illustrated by John Wallner as well.

This book is amazing. It would be a great tool for art media week or something to discuss when learning about colors and art. It has such a beautiful perspective on the things on the earth and how they are related to color and beauty. Has excellent examples of things with those certain colors and has such great structure because basically the whole book is a poem. I love it and will definitely use it someday in a classroom.