My Many Colored Days :: Education by Design Store

Editorial Review
Illustrated in full color. Accompanying a manuscript Dr. Seuss wrote in 1973, is a letter outlining his hopes of finding "a great color artist who will not be dominated by me." The late Dr. Seuss saw his original text about feelings and moods as part of the "first book ever to be based on beautiful illustrations and sensational color." The quest for an artist has finally ended--after the manuscript languished for more than two decades--at the paint brushes of husband-and-wife team Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher whose stunning, expressive paintings reveal such striking images as a bright red horse kicking its heels, a cool and quiet green fish, a sad and lonely purple dinosaur, and an angrily howling black wolf. Using a spectrum of vibrant colors and a menagerie of animals, this unique book does for the range of human moods and emotions what Oh, the Places You'll Go! does for the human life cycle. Here is a wonderful way for parents to talk with children about their feelings. With Johnson and Fancher's atmospheric, large-scale paintings bursting off the pages, Dr. Seuss's vision is brought to life. This rare and beautiful book is bound to appeal to both the innocent young and the most sophisticated seniors.
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Customer Reviews

Our favorite thing to do

2008-02-23
I started reading this book to my daughter pretty much straight out of the hospital. When we travel, it is always in our carry bag. At 1.5 years, she asks for it by name ("Days") and goes to grab it off of the table (it never makes it back to the book shelf) to ask me to read it to her. She kicks with the red horse, flaps her wings like the bright blue bird, and jumps with the pink flamingos. We curl up together and she turns the pages one by one and waits (im)patiently for me to read each one. I change my voice slightly for each emotion and she tells me either the color or the animal on the page. And when we get to the end we always take a minute to talk about the many colors of my baby girl.

It's a wonderful bonding moment between us that's lasted over a year and is still going strong. It's reinforcing the things she's learning about colors and animals. It's hopefully helping her to understand that emotions are good and it's okay that sometimes she's happy and sometimes she's not. I look forward to continuing to read this together for a long time to come, and someday years from now to pulling out a dog-eared copy to show my darling girl her favorite book and tell her about our favorite thing to do.

Good for play therapy

2008-01-04
I really enjoy this book, and even more, like reading it to my young clients. While the concepts are wonderful, the images captivating and colorful, I've found that it is a little hard for my clients ages 3-6 to relate to.

Seuss produced appealing feelings

2007-08-26
I've just recently discovered this book, published after Dr. Seuss' death. He wrote this lively poem - about feelings and colors and how they differ from day to day - but felt he couldn't adequately illustrate them. So after his death, his wife found the team of Johnson and Fancher to create these wonderful expressions of color to match his words, so timeless and true. He would be so pleased. Their beautiful paintings are full of life and truly express the feelings that each color seems to be saying. The whimsical type settings add to the spirit of this celebration of color. This is a gem of a book that will certainly appeal to both young and old.

My son loves this book

2007-07-05
A great book for learning colors AND emotions, and that they are all okay to have! Awesome illistrations

Great, Great Book

2007-03-21
I had not read this Dr. Suess Book. It is wonderful. It talks about feelings you might have using colors. Beautiful. My students loved it.

One of the few Seuss books that is actually suited for babies

2008-06-27
I know, I know - you're going "Isn't Seuss already for little kids?" A lot of people think that - that's why they get Green Eggs and Ham for their two year olds.

Unfortunately for them, most of the Seuss canon is for early readers, or even older. These books are too long for babies and toddlers to sit through, and some of them are even a little frightening for more sensitive children (I'm continually perturbed by my five-year-old niece's terror of Horton Hears a Who, but she doesn't like the bullying that goes on there. It's a wonderful book, just not for her).

This book, by contrast, was clearly written with little-little ones in mind. There's a line or two on every page, and most pages are two-page spreads.

Seuss didn't do the illustrations, but I think that they do justice to his work anyway.

Some people are concerned about the color symbolism. (I'm wondering why they pick on the negative connotations of brown and black, but not the connotations of yellow (asian?) and purple (gay?), but that's beside the point.) I don't see this as a problem, especially when each color is illustrated with a different animal in that color, and neither does the (black) father of my two nieces.

But if it is a concern for you, by all means check the book out of the library before purchasing it.

Incidentally, the board book is very sturdily constructed. Not all board books are, but this one has very thick pages, very secure binding - always a good thing :)

A great Engagement gift!

2008-05-28
This was an Engagement gift! Because life, each day, is colored by many emotions, it was meaningful! When one commits to another, there are bound to be "Many Colored Days". This was wonderful - to offer the young couple! Advice: Help each other through the "dark" days and relish in the BRIGHT ones! It is short and sends a message! Thank you!

Fabulous way to introduce feelings

2008-04-18
This book was given to us as a Christmas present from a friend with a child who is the same age as my son. He was 10 mos when he received it, and now is 14 mos. It took him a while to get into this book, but that is more to do with his nature than the book. He now likes looking at all the colors and when he is in the mood to sit still he likes to hear the lyrical nature of the words. I'm looking forward to using this to help him examine his emotions as he grows. Recommend it for kids age 1 and up.

My Many Colored Days

2008-04-06
The book is great, but the cover came ripped. I know it's hard to keep it from ripping because of the cutouts but it's discouraging to get a brand new book where the cover is already ripped.

The most resonant book for my 5-year-old

2008-03-04
My son loves this book and we read it every night as his last book before he goes to bed. "My Many Colored Days" makes my son understand that we are all human and share emotions.