What Color Is Caesar? - Hardcover

Kumin, Maxine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763634328 ISBN 13: 9780763634322

Publisher: Candlewick, 2010

Synopsis

One dog’s quest for self-definition is anything but black and white in this delightfully droll, enlightening tale by an acclaimed former poet laureate.

Caesar is a large white dog with a great many black spots. Or is he a large black dog with even more white spots? That’s the trouble: he doesn’t know which, and though nobody in the family seems to care, he won’t rest until he uncovers the truth. So off he traipses, beseeching one animal after another to find out what color he is, basically. From celebrated poet Maxine Kumin comes a doggedly quizzical hero, brought comically to life by Alison Friend’s expressive watercolors — a lovable picture-book character who ultimately learns that it’s not what’s on the outside that counts.

About this title

About the Author:

Maxine Kumin is a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet who has served as both the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (a post later renamed the Poet Laureate of the United States) and the Poet Laureate of New Hampshire. In addition to her numerous books of poetry, she has also written novels, essays, and beloved children’s books. She lives in Warner, New Hampshire.

Alison Friend’s sweet and funny watercolors of animals have been featured on greeting and holiday cards. This is her first picture book. She lives in South Yorkshire, England.

From Booklist:

First turned into a picture book in 1978, Kumin’s tale is an identity story in which the protagonist is a dog who’s worried about his looks. “He was either all white with a great many black spots or all black with even more white ones. . . . He didn’t know which.” Friend’s playful gouache illustrations capture both the sweetness and the anxiety of Caesar as he sets out from his comfortable home in search of answers. He gets his favorite one from a carnival guru who loves lollipops: “On the surface you are the color you are . . . deep down in your heart. . . . You are whatever color you want to be.” This is a longer-than-usual picture book with more than the usual amount of text, but Kumin’s engaging story and its many whimsical details (the dog’s doctor is a black-and-white woodpecker, for instance) will keep young readers’ attention as Caesar realizes that he is actually all seven colors of the rainbow. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Abby Nolan

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0763634328
• ISBN 13: 9780763634322
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 56
• Illustrator: Friend Alison