The Day-Glo Brothers

Several weeks ago, I received a box of books to review for the NCBLA. To my surprise, one book initially stood apart from all the others...The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob & Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand New Colors written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Tony Persiani. When I first saw the cover, I immediately went back to my childhood days and remembered how excited I was to get anything fluorescent (i.e., crayons, black light posters, super balls, etc). With this in mind, off course I had to read this book first from my box of books.



Barton does a fantastic job taking the reader through the life and times of the Switzer brothers. He shares how these two brothers experimented and problem-solved to created fluorescent paint and how that paint has been used to enhance magic shows, theater costumes, Christmas displays, road signs, and more.

Persiani's retro illustrations are "highlighted" with various day-glo colors. Even the end pages use these electric colors to support this fun and informative book.

I definitely recommend this book.

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

P.S. If you would like to read an interview of Chris Barton click on this link to Lewis Harris' blog.

You Are the First Kid on Mars

Before I start the blog entry for this book, I must apologize to my readers. I have not posted since early April. However, school is out and I am ready to roll. I have a couple of books that I want to enter this next week, and after that I hope to get more NCBLA books to review.

Today's entry is about a new book by Patrick O'Brien, You Are the First Kid on Mars. This book is an information book that mixes a narrative storyline with non fiction information about Mars. The storyline takes a young boy from Earth to Mars where he lives with his family for a while and then back to Earth. Integrated into the story are bulleted facts to provide the reader with specific information about space travel, Mars, and more. The end of the book supplies the reader with "More Information About Mars". I also feel that O'Brien's painting truly support the text.

Since this is a NCBLA (Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts) book, I will not rate it, but I will say that I highly recommend it for 3rd and 4th graders.

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

Here is a photo of my youngest reading this book on our hammock.