Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman

Bibliography

Sidman, Joyce. Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009.

ISBN 9780547014944

Plot Summary

          Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski makes nature’s colors come alive in descriptive language and images.  Tracing the year through the changing color palette of the seasons, Sidman has a lady with a pup, both of whom wear crowns and ever-changing clothing and colors, participate in different seasonal activities. She portrays colors without naming the image which draws the reader/listener into the illustrations to discover just what the color is in that season.  For example, “Yellow and Purple hold hands./  They beam at each other/ with bright velvet faces.”  There are pansies at the bottom of the page.  All five senses are in play at the season slip one into the next leaving the reader wondering how the book will end.

Critical Analysis

          As a poetry book, Joyce Sidman’s Red Sings from Treetops uses the cycle of nature’s seasons as a canvas on which to paint with words about the colors that symbolize each season.  The organization of this individual poet compilation is necessarily linear, and the lady figure leads the reader from one season to the next.  There is an intrinsic appeal to the audience because of the familiarity with seasonal changes and colors.

          Just as the seasons progress in bursts of colors, the poetry flashes figurative language and sound effects.  “Red darts, jags,/ hovers.”  “White sounds like storms.”  Blue is “a glimmering dark/ that slowly/ turns/ light.” “Green trills from trees” is a combination of alliteration and personification.  Sidman makes the most use of personification as every color has its verb to accomplish in its season.  “Gray and Brown/ hold hands” in the winter.  “Snap! Moth for supper” and “Red: crisp, juicy crunch!” are examples of sound Sidman includes for her colors. 

          It is the imagery which catches the reader by its everyday presence portrayed by an imaginary focus.  “White clinks in drinks” means ice cubes yet it is a color but not really and it makes noise.  “Yellow grows wheels/ and lumbers/ down the block” is a bus.  The color names appear in that color and are always highlighted.  This imagery serves to not only emphasize the color, but also creates a visual that teaches and corresponds to the colors on the page.  Finally, there is the little red bird on many of the pages which symbolizes the forward movement of the season and whose song notes begin the new year’s spring.

Review Excerpt(s)

Winner of Bank Street Claudia Lewis Award

Winner of the 2007 Cybils Award

A Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Book

A School library Journal Best Book

New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

Texas Bluebonnet Master List

A Booklinks Lasting Connection

2010 Caldecott Honor Book

2010 ALA Notable Children’s Books, Younger Readers

Booklist: The Best of Editor’s Choice 2009

Bulletin Blue Ribbons 2009, Nonfiction

2009 Horn Book Fanfare List

“This is an important book both for its creativity and for its wisdom.” – SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

Connections

·        Students draw a color from a box of 3x5 cards, a verb from another box of 3x5 cards, and a noun from another.  They can exchange with someone if they like.  They then write a poem about their card choices.

·        Students dress for outside.  From a pile of face down 5x7 cardboards with paper glued on them for writing and a pencil attached to them with string, each student draws one cardboard, turns it over, and reads the color written at the top of the page.  Out they go for a short walk to write down what they see in that color.  Back in class, they listen to Red Sings from Treetops and use their observations to try writing personification.