Hello, friends! Our book today is Somewhere Over The Rainbow, illus. by Mike Byrne, a colorful board book with a musical twist.

Using popular song titles to introduce the names of colors to little bookworms, each spread begins with a block color and the title that name-drops that particular shade (“PINK Moon”, “BROWN-Eyed Girl”, “BLUE Suede Shoes”, etc). The opposite page shows an illustration dominated by the featured hue, starring some cute animals hanging out with or displaying the literal interpretation of the song title.

Colorful but disappointing. When I heard the concept for this one, I was excited, but with the exception of some very cute art, this mostly feels like a missed opportunity. The minimalist text is very limiting, especially for young (or even older) readers who are not familiar with with songs being named. In fact, since the song titles are not even identified by artist, readers would have to search outside the title to match the song to its band if they didn’t recognize it(with varied success; “Green Light” by Beyoncé? By Lorde? By John Legend?). The art is very sweet, but similarly feels detached from the songs, showing only the literal interpretation of the title with few exceptions, the most notable of which is a French poodle and its owner wearing some vaguely punk accoutrements for “White Wedding” (which, incidentally, was our favorite illustration). So while the idea of using pop songs to teach colors is a great one, this just feels like it missed the mark, in a way that does little to differentiate it from any other color-learning book. Otherwise, the length was fine, and JJ did enjoy the artwork. So while we weren’t blown away by the execution, this one is still Baby Bookworm approved.

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)