Summary
This was such an engaging book! The story in "Yesterday I Had the BLUES" is descriptive from the moment you flip the first page. In it features an African American boy's inventive descriptions of many moods he encounters.They show a loving family in which some days are clearly better than others for its various members. Sometimes happiness lives between the text and art, as in the picture aside the text. The young boy explains his feelings of his family by illustrating them using colors.
Evaluation of Genre
This story is a children's fiction and picture book. The author uses a great deal of metaphors and displays a marvelous amount of creative language throughout the book. The greatest strength of this book is the way that the author uses color. This book is poetic and although suggested for younger readers in K-2 grades, it can be enjoyed by all as it is a wonderful example of descriptive writing for older students as well.
Illustrations
There is plenty of warmth and humor in both the text and R. Gregory Christie's vibrant, color-saturated illustrations. The book is great for engaging young readers who are learning their colors and is also helpful that the pictures are amazingly done in abstract paintings that make the illustrations appear realistic.
Engaging Class Activity
Understanding that color truly makes this book, a great activity to do would be to create an artistic piece designed behind mood and emotion. Allow the students to be colorful in the art with a "caption" of their feeling. Share with others that their feeling is how they were feeling that particular day and the next day may be perhaps another vibrant display of a poem describing their feelings.
Discussion Questions
- Who is the young boy describing when he uses colors in the text?
- What is the problem in the story?
- How do you express your emotions when going through change?
Further Reading:
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