Lemons are not Red. Apples are red. Lemons are yellow. . . .
Clever cutouts in the pages make a simple, original, and utterly beguiling introduction to color.
Laura Vaccaro Seeger, whose The Hidden Alphabet dazzled critics and readers alike, introduces young children to color in this unique concept book with die cuts. The opening spread features a big, bright red lemon and the simple text, "Lemons are not RED." When the spread is turned an equally bright yellow lemon appears ("Lemons are YELLOW") across from a luscious red apple ("Apples are RED").
And so it goes, from carrots that are not purple through reindeer that are not white, et al. The book ends with "The moon is not BLACK / The moon is SILVER / The night is BLACK / Good night! And the reader sees a tranquil night landscape and a house with the lights turned out.
This title has Common Core connections.
Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator and a two-time winner of the Caldecott Honor Award, winner of the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Best Picture Book, and a two-time winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. She is also the recipient of the Empire State Award for "Body of Work and Contribution to Children's Literature."
Laura's paintings have been exhibited at many museums and galleries including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, the Mazza Museum of Picture Book Art, the New York Public Library, and the New York Nassau County Museum of Art.
Laura grew up on Long Island, New York, with her parents, Vera and Phil, brothers, Billy and Tommy, sister Linda, and both grandmothers. She began drawing at two years old and never stopped. She earned her BFA degree at the School of Fine Art and Design at the State University of New York at Purchase in Westchester, New York. She then moved to Manhattan and began a career as an animator, artist, designer, and editor in the network television business. She created show openings and special segments for NBC and ABC for many years and won an Emmy Award for an opening animation for an NBC Special.
Laura has been an artist and a writer for as long as she can remember and has always wanted to make picture books for children. In the fifth grade, she'd written an essay that stated with absolute certainty that she was born to make picture books. By that time, she had written and illustrated her own little library. Over the years, she continued to make books of all shapes and sizes, and several years ago, she decided it was time to try to get some of her books published. She was fortunate to have met her editor, Neal Porter, almost immediately.
Laura lives in Rockville Centre, New York, with her husband Chris, their two sons, Drew and Dylan, and their dog Copper, the star of her "Dog and Bear" series. She loves painting, writing, surfing, boating, tennis, running, playing the piano, and spending time with her family and friends. She takes long walks at the beach each day and paints in her studio each night.
