Music Is a Rainbow

by Bryan Collier

Overview

The music turned into color and light and filled the room.
 
A young boy remembers quietly watching his father read the paper and sip a cup of coffee. He remembers his sweet momma, who lovingly pressed away the wrinkles on his clothes. Then one day, his father is gone and his momma falls ill. But through his love of music he feels his father’s warm hugs and his mother’s kisses. He learns to relax, shine, and dream as the music fills his soul.

From four-time Caldecott honoree Bryan Collier comes a moving and gorgeously illustrated exploration of healing the soul through music.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316537421
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	06/07/2022
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	624,185
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Bryan Collier has illustrated more than thirty-five picture books, including the award-winning Trombone Shorty, Dave the Potter, and Knock Knock: My Father’s Dream for Me, as well as City Shapes and Fifty Cents and a Dream, and has received four Caldecott Honors and six Coretta Scott King Awards. He lives with his wife and children in Marlboro, New York.

Editorial Reviews

03/21/2022

Before Daddy leaves for work, he hugs his young child and whispers, “Son, life is full of holes. You may want to close them up to keep out the storm. But make sure to leave room for that rainbow to find you.” The boy’s mother’s affections are equally ardent, “sweet like penny candy.” But on the boy’s seventh birthday, Momma gets sick and has to go away, and the child’s world comes apart—until he hears a piano playing on the other side of his bedroom wall. Moving through the air in undulating rays of color, his neighbors’ music envelopes him, just as his parents’ hugs and kisses did, in “a rainbow of love.” And instead of joining his friends, “known in the streets as the South Side bandits,” in mischief, music—at the movies, from a piano—allows the boy to “relax. He could shine, and he could dream.” Working in watercolor and collage on canvas, Collier (We Shall Overcome) blends realism with expressionistic fantasy, and painterly portraiture with a documentarian’s eye for detail. The book’s watchful protagonist, who is Black, moves through the world with an endearing tentativeness, making scenes in which the boy connects clearly to music all the more joyful and hopeful: “The rainbow had found him. And then that feeling lasted forever.” An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Music is a Rainbow:
A Kirkus Best Book of 2022

"The book’s watchful protagonist moves through the world with an endearing tentativeness, making scenes in which the boy connects clearly to music all the more joyful and hopeful."—Publishers Weekly

 "...a poignant message about the potential of the arts to foster children’s development."—Horn Book

"Collier’s portraiture transfixes the reader with the boy’s hesitant and tender gaze throughout. An optimistic ending reassures the reader of the child’s healing connection to music."—Booklist

*"A poetic collage of emotion and purpose and a vibrant testament to the power of music."—Kirkus, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 06/01/2022

K-Gr 3—With tender illustrations conveying deep love and family ties, this book speaks directly to the heart. Collier creates a connection between family love and the power of music, using a refrain of a father's memorable advice in a comforting rhythm: "Leave room for that rainbow to find you. Broken is beautiful." In this context, music is the rainbow that helps guide a lonely young boy, following the death of his mother and his own increasing isolation, through troubled times and bad decisions. Several times, as he is about to embark on true trouble, his father's words wash over him, and he makes different choices. The watercolor paintings and vivid collages give readers a clear picture of the daily struggles and upheaval resulting from an unexpected separation. The illustrations are stunning, and readers will want to spend extra time enjoying their message. An author's note traces Collier's inspiration to three sources: "world-class poet, artist, and activist" Maya Angelou; the well-known poem "The Road Not Taken" by beloved American poet Robert Frost; and supernova Quincy Jones, "a renowned musician, producer, and humanitarian." VERDICT When presented with difficult choices, music provides the focus and motivation for a boy to live up to a father's advice and remember his mother's love in this necessary paean to familial love.—Darby Wallace

School Library Journal

★ 2022-05-11
Sometimes something unexpected can guide us away from the darkest parts of ourselves into a magnificent, glorious light.

Collier delivers a visually arresting tale as simple as a peanut-butter–and-jelly sandwich yet more layered than an opera cake. A young Black boy loves his mama and daddy, and they love him right back. But the boy’s mother becomes ill, and he feels lonely. Trouble beckons in the form of friends encouraging him to accompany them as they make mischief, but each time, music somehow finds him and sets him on the right path—he overhears a young girl playing the piano, is swept up in the swells of a powerful score at the movies, and finally discovers a piano. Using stunning panels that combine rich watercolors with collage, Collier has created a character whose facial expressions and body language tell the whole story—his joy, anxiety, and promise. The author/illustrator captures that little voice inside us all, the one that calls out when we see something breathtaking. The use of light and color is superb—music is a radiant, swirling rainbow that leads the boy out of the shadows. Collier writes in an author’s note that he was inspired by Maya Angelou, Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” and Quincy Jones. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A poetic collage of emotion and purpose and a vibrant testament to the power of music. (Picture book. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews