These Colours Are Bananas

What colour is a banana? It can be at least 25 different shades, according to this artful swatchbook of versatile subjects. An inversion of the way we typically look at colour, this book challenges readers' predispositions towards using a particular crayon for a particular object. 11 items are each presented alongside a grid of color ranges: the "apple" page features yellows, greens, and reds; the "egg" page a range of greens to grays; even "grass" is surprising, with suggestions of pink. The read-along text is playful and philosophical, poetic and factual... all towards expanding readers' assumptions. Inspired by the Whitney Museum's approach to looking at art, these books provide a new way to look at the world.

"Remember when I said that Fulford & Shopsin are the clever ones to watch? This book just reinforces that. It basically shows all the different colors of various objects. Banana on the one hand. Human skin tones on the other. It's smart as a whip and lovely to look at. Not preachy in the least."—Fuse Eight Blog/SLJ.com

"The marvel of color and its varieties comes to young children in two snug little books by James Fulford and Tamara Shopsin. The first, These Colors Are Bananas, widens the idea of the natural color of natural things... The second... Find Colors, is a scavenger hunt shaped like a board book... The book encourages children to become color hunters, prowling and pouncing and, we can hope, developing an appreciation for the hues they discover."—Wall Street Journal

"[B]rilliant... Their novel approach creates an experience that's fresh, interactive and engaging."—Avery and Augustine

"The read-along text is playful and philosophical, poetic and factual... All towards expanding readers' assumptions."—New York Metro Parents

"My new favorite board book... This is a book that asks children to see many sides of one thing - in particular, colors... (Shopsin and Fulford also created Find Colors, which includes die cuts on every page, encouraging children to put their faces to the pages and actively find colors themselves in the world around them. This is also good stuff. More board books from these two, please?)."—Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

"Divine board book for colour lovers, featuring alternative possibilities for everyday items, such as clouds, apples, grass and... bananas."—BambinoGoodies.co.uk

"One of the most innovative color concept books I think I've ever seen, and I'm obsessed with it... Such a clever way to introduce color concepts... One of my favorite color concept books of all time."—Let’s Talk Picture Books

"A charming way to introduce kids to color."—ArtDesk

"A very simple but clever book... A really effective way to get us all to look really closely at the diversity of colours in everything."—Juno

"Presents a WIDE range of colors for a variety of objects."—School Library Journal/A Fuse Eight Production

"I love it for how beautiful it is and how it reminds us to really look at the world around us. And it is suitable for one-year-olds in that sense because they are so curious and observant and everything is new and wonderful to them."—Book Riot

"They'll make you read it a million times, and you won't even mind."—Goop

Tamara Shopsin is a graphic designer, author, and illustrator. She is also a cook at her family restaurant, Shopsin's, in New York.

Jason Fulford is a photographer, designer, and cofounder of the nonprofit J&L Books. He lives in New York with his wife Tamara Shopsin.

What colour is a banana? It can be at least 25 different shades, according to this artful swatchbook of versatile subjects. An inversion of the way we typically look at colour, this book challenges readers' predispositions towards using a particular crayon for a particular object. 11 items are each presented alongside a grid of color ranges: the "apple" page features yellows, greens, and reds; the "egg" page a range of greens to grays; even "grass" is surprising, with suggestions of pink. The read-along text is playful and philosophical, poetic and factual... all towards expanding readers' assumptions. Inspired by the Whitney Museum's approach to looking at art, these books provide a new way to look at the world.

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