A New Green Day

by Antoinette Portis (Author)

A New Green Day
Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

If you listen, nature speaks. Explore nature through evocative riddles and bold imagery that take the reader from day to night and back again in this perfect read aloud.

From the author of the Sibert Honor-winning title Hey, Water! comes a book of poetic riddles that encourage young readers to explore the natural world.

Who scribbles on the sidewalk with glistening ink? Snail!

Who's a comma in a long, long sentence of a stream? Tadpole!

On each spread, children will solve riddles about the familiar animals, plants and the weather that one child encounters outdoors throughout a whole day. Active readers will delight in the clever language and striking illustrations.

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Selected for the CBC Champions of Change Showcase

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Hardcover
$18.99

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Kirkus Reviews

"Very young children will love reading along with adults, who can help them make sense of the sometimes-abstract hints; older kids will have fun making guesses on their own. . . . Simple, poetic, and fun."

Booklist

"Portis' engaging offering is a lyrical guessing-game tribute to summer and a few of its unique features."

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Giving voice to wonders great and small, Portis (Hey, Water!) crafts short poems about natural things and events encountered over the course of a summer day: a tadpole, thunder, an inchworm, mud. Each voice poses a provocative, lyrical riddle answered through the turn of a page: "Morning lays me on your pillow, / an invitation, square and warm./ Come out and play!" An envelope? No. The page turn reveals a patch of sunlight, dense with shadows of leaves and branches, falling across a sleeping child's dark braid. Textures abound: "I'm a candy sucked smooth/ in the river's mouth./ Let me sweeten your pocket" reveals a piebald pebble. A veined leaf duplicates a tree's silhouette, fuzzy tendrils trail from a passing cloud, and starry night falls, "a black coat/ slipped around/ Earth's shoulders." The power of Portis's poems, and the surprise each page turn allows, lets readers experience familiar moments with awakened senses, offering them nothing less than a new world filled with fresh experiences. Ages 3-7. Agent: Deborah Warren, East/West Literary. (Apr.)

Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Hornbook

"A playful, thoroughly captivating guessing game for young listeners."

Review quotes

 "ever-so-satisfying . . . In its reverence for each finely described detail, A New Green Day holds a magnifying glass to the wonders, big and small, that are waiting in nature for all to enjoy."—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

"Mixed-media art involving brush and ink, hand-stamping, and charcoal has digital smoothness, balance, and an elemental feel as each small page focuses tightly on its subject . . . a graceful lyrical readaloud." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Antoinette Portis
Antoinette Portis is the author of many inventive books for children, including Not a Box, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a Geisel Honor Book and the Sibert Honor book Hey, Water!, which received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and School Library Journal, who said "This simple introduction to water is an ideal read-aloud for the youngest scientists". Other titles include A New Green Day which was a Junior Library Guild selection and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, as well as the ALA Notable Books Wait and Now. A recipient of the Prestigious Sendak Fellowship, she lives in Southern California. Visit her at Antoinetteportis.com
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9780823444885
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Neal Porter Books
Publication date
April 20, 2020
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF051000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | General
JNF013090 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Concepts | Seasons
JNF021050 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Games & Activities | Questions & Answers
Library of Congress categories
Nature
Junior Library Guild Selection
NCTE Notable Book

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