Festival of Colors by Kabir Sehgal by Marissa Posada

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Justification:I chose this title because I've always been curious about this festival that is celebrated in India. This was a good chance to learn something about it. This was also listed as a Texas 2x2 book. I also loved the colors and art style that was on the cover of this book. I'm a sucker for a good book cover.

Evaluation:This book has examples of music in language. This occurs when the children are picking flowers to make powders. The children identify each flower and tell the color powder it will make. "They gather marigolds, because marigolds make orange." This is a patterned used for all four flowers they pick. Another instance is when everyone is ready to go to the festival. It starts with the children are ready, the parents, friends, etc. The pages just continue to add on who is attending the festival. Both instances allow the reader to make predictions of what is coming next.

This book's illustrations subtlety extend or develop the plot. I did not notice the first time I read the book, but I had wondered when I was reading how the children made the powder in a day. I noticed the second time that the children have different clothes for each stage of the powder making. One outfit for gathering and dying, one outfit to separate the petals, an outfit to press the petals, and then the actual day of the festival. It was such a subtle change that I did not even notice. The next subtle development was when the family 'picks up' the rest of the people going to the festival. The parents show up outside a big house, the friends are at a green house, and the neighbors are at a blue house. The background illustrations show the movement of the family as they go to the festival.

The book also has the illustrations establish the setting. On the first page of the story is an action figure for a cricket player for team India. This is very subtle and I had to really examine the page to figure out what kind of action figure it was. The next instance of establishing setting was when they were 'picking up' people to go to the festival, the houses they pass tell us this is located in India. The door frames are common in India, thus showing us the location of the story. The last indicator that this story is located in India is the elephant at the festival. I doubt there are any other places where an elephant is invited to the party.

Response: I have always been curious about the Festival of Colors since it reminds me of the Fun Run. I think it is cool what the festival symbolizes and all the fun people get to have celebrating it. The text did not communicate with me personally because this was mostly informational. I only had an inkling before on what happened at the Festival of Colors. I loved this book as a piece of art. I really liked all of the bright colors and the art style. The story was informative and gave a basic run down of the festival.

Conclusion: This book included music in language, and had the illustrations extend or develop the plot and establish setting. This is a great introduction for children to the Festival of Colors. The illustrations an colors are phenomenal! I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand more about the Festival.

APA Citation: Sehgal, K. & Sehgal, S. (2018). Festival of colors. New York: Beach Lane Books.