I Feel Teal

by Lauren Rille, Aimïe Sicuro (Illustrator)

Overview

A little girl has a rainbow of emotions in this gentle debut picture book that encourages little ones to express their feelings through color.

You’re pink, you’re teal, you’re gray, you’re jade.
You’re every golden, warmy shade...

All of us have lots of feelings, and this sweet rhyming story cleverly uses colors to explore the wide range of emotions little ones experience throughout the day, from a shy scarlet to a quiet ecru to an exuberant magenta. Along the way it celebrates individuality and self-acceptance—after all, our feelings are the palette that makes us who we are!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481458467
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	07/31/2018
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,104,174
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lauren Rille is an art director in the Simon & Schuster children’s division who makes her picture book debut with I Feel Teal, a story that combines her passions for colors and feelings. Lauren also loves horses, dogs, good design, stinky cheeses, and spending time with her family. She lives in Santa Monica, California, and you can visit her at LaurenRille.com.

Aimée Sicuro is an illustrator, picture book maker, and surface pattern designer living in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and young son. She graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design with a BFA in illustration.

Editorial Reviews

05/07/2018
Infused with the pure pleasure of color, this debut from Rille and Sicuro (illustrator of The Moon Inside) links particular hues with particular moods, giving younger children a concrete way to talk about their feelings. Each of a dozen different spreads, outlined in black ink, is washed with a single color. A dark-haired, preschool-age girl wakes in her bedroom to the sunrise. All the objects in the room are bathed in shades of pale rose. “You’re pink,” the text begins. A page turn reveals the girl gazing thoughtfully through the water of her fish’s bowl (“You’re teal”) as everything in the room falls into teal-colored shadow. Some of the colors associated with the girl’s feelings derive from widely recognized expressions (“You’re green” shows the girl gazing with envy at a child who was faster at finding the right block), while others represent looser associations, as when nap time is associated with the color lilac. A final encouraging message about accepting feelings (“So when you feel them, let them through!”) concludes this reflective, rather than active, exploration of emotions—a good choice for a mood-quieting readaloud or a springboard for discussion. Ages 3–8. Illustrator’s agent: Andrea Morrison, Writers House. (July)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2018
PreS-Gr 2—Ostensibly about matching colors to emotions, this book fares better as a vehicle for honing visual literacy skills and enhancing vocabulary development. Some children may know that certain colors suggest emotions. This book expands on that concept by introducing some lesser-known hues including teal, magenta, ecru, jade, scarlet, lilac, and mauve—and clarifying their meanings with artwork (rendered in ink, watercolor, and gouache, and assembled digitally). For all of the colors, the childlike illustrations of a young girl and her classmates demonstrate how they're feeling. In some instances, readers will understand clearly what emotions the characters represent; in others, facial expressions, body language, and scenes are open to interpretation. Occasionally, some colors are confusingly or questionably rendered, as several shades may appear on the same page but are identified with only one name. The author also states that children are the colors rather than that they feel them—a point not all kids will understand; in the case of colors readers didn't know, this distinction may be lost entirely, especially where the illustrations are unclear. VERDICT An additional purchase. Use for "I Spy"-type games, encouraging students to identify classroom, household, and neighborhood objects that bear the color names in the book. Use also as a springboard for group and/or individual art projects, including color mixing.—Carol Goldman, formerly at Queens Library, NY

School Library Journal

2018-04-25
A child goes through a day at preschool, feeling many moods along the way.This textually ungendered child (with medium-length dark hair in a barrette) awakens pink-cheeked and smiling, in a bedroom awash with pink, with a pink sun shining in. "You're pink," says the second-person text. On the next spread, "You're teal": The child gazes contentedly through the teal-colored water in a fish tank housing a teal-colored fish. Each spread highlights one hue, and items follow that change deliciously from page to page: The pajama top that was checked pink becomes checked teal; a picture of an ice cream cone, previously pink, turns teal. The verse patters gently: "You're scarlet, / mauve, and purpley too. / Lilac, / magenta, / a quiet ecru." Some colors have traditional mood connections: gray or blue for sadness, red for anger. Some carry other meanings: "every golden, warmy shade" shows the warmth of the preschool's vibe and claims racial diversity for the class. (Eye shape and hair texture imply racial distinctions, though everyone has the matte white skin of the background paper, including the protagonist.) The occasional obscure mood-color connection doesn't detract, and although some moods' causes go unexplained, they can be guessed at. Sicuro's ink figures and watercolor-and-gouache backgrounds have a light, earnest touch. Pair with Tameka Fryer Brown and Shane W. Evans' bright and imaginative My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood (2013).Reassuring. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews