*Kitten Red, Yellow, Blue by Peter Catalanotto

Kitten Red, Yellow, Blue is a very fun picture book that plays with color while showing the activities of sixteen kittens who serve alongside their owners in the community.

*Kitten Red, Yellow, Blue by Peter Catalanotto. Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2005. 32 pages.

• Reading Level: Picture books, ages 4-8
• Recommended For: Ages 4-8

When Mrs. Tuttle’s cat, Sophia, has sixteen calico kittens, they find homes all over the neighborhood. Clearly an organized woman (an elementary librarian or teacher, perhaps?), Ms. Tuttle finds inspiration in a box of crayons and coordinated ribbon colors.

The text is simple and the pictures humorously and colorfully tell the rest of the story. Each scene is portrayed in grayscale along with a color representing the vocation of the kitten’s owner, along with tiny details in every color that has been covered thus far. 

First, “Red kitten rescues with Dave, the firefighter.” Dave and the kitten stand below a tree wondering how to get the dalmatian down. Red is the only true color on the page.

A couple pages later, “Blue kitten patrols with Francine, the police officer.” Francine and the kitten are running along a boardwalk chasing a dog on a bicycle smoking a pipe and carrying a radio with a fishing pole in the basket, right past a sign forbidding all those things. Besides blue, we find red (for the fireman) and yellow (for the construction scene on the previous page) on the fishing bobber-thingy.

Dogs are depicted as inferior to the kittens, whose relationship with their owners is delightful and endearing. By the end we are still left wondering why the chicken crossed the road.

*indicates a Redeemed Reader starred review, an outstanding example in its field.

Considerations: none

Bottom Line: This is such a fun book, worthy of repeat visits. I still haven’t outgrown it. You should track it down!

Recommended Reading at Redeemed Reader

• Book Reviews: More favorites for this age group include Luli and the Language of Tea, A Visitor for Bear, and Towed by Toad.
• Book Review: Speaking of colors, The Crayon Man is a fun picture book biography about how Crayons were invented!
• A Resource: Kitten Red, Yellow, Blue is one of the books mentioned in *our* new book, The Redeemed Reader.

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