Synopsis
Discover how artists select and use color to enhance their art in George Rodrigue and Bruce Goldstone’s picture book Why Is Blue Dog Blue?
For years Blue Dog’s bold blueness has captivated adults. Now children get to join in the fun when they open this vibrant book, which finally answers the question we’ve all wondered about since we first met Blue Dog’s riveting stare: Why Is Blue Dog Blue?
Blue Dog’s creator, George Rodrigue, takes readers on a playful tour of his unique color world. In it, he combines preposterous puns with all-new whimsical Blue Dog silkscreens to go where other color guides are too yellow-bellied to tread. Readers of all ages will giggle as Blue Dog changes color from red or green to auburn or chartreuse. Along the way, readers learn a lot about colors and their names, from basic primary and secondary colors to the exotic ones most color primers ignore completely. But more importantly, this book is a fun-filled demonstration of how artists use color to enrich their art.
Children and adults alike will be surprised by this imaginative and expansive explanation of Blue Dog’s color. And by the end of the book, they will see that the artist’s reasoning is both logical and magical: Blue Dog simply had to be blue.
Reviews
Ages 4-8. Cajun artist George Rodrigue first painted his distinctive, blueberry-colored pooch in 1984. Since then, Blue Dog has become a pop icon, the subject of several books by the author and many canvasses loved by both celebrities and the story-hour set, the audience for this picture book. Here, Rodrigue answers the title question by explaining that Blue Dog's color depends on what the artist is doing: when Rodrigue goes fishing, he paints the dog a salmon color; when Rodrigue wants a hot dog, he paints the dog mustard yellow, and so on. The text seems mostly a vehicle for introducing colors that belong in an upscale clothing catalogue (alabaster, emerald), and an unsatisfying quasi-cosmic remark finally answers the title question. Despite the problems, young Blue Dog fans will enjoy seeing their favorite pup dressed in different colors, and Rodrigue's liberating reminder that "Artists don't have to paint things the way they really are" may inspire kids to discover new colors and use them creatively. Gillian Engberg
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