Blue on Blue

"Cotton clouds. / Morning light. / Blue on blue. / White on white." Succinct couplets take readers from a beautiful morning through a thunderstorm to a peaceful conclusion. Inviting scratchboard illustrations set this meteorological report on a cozy farm; they feature sturdy rounded forms and strong compositions where straight lines (such as pelting rain) counterpoint the prevailing curves (from a puddle to the earth itself).

"Cotton clouds. / Morning light./ Blue on blue. / White on white." Blue sky and a blue lake promise a lovely day, and so it will be, even with upcoming changeable weather included: "Gray on gray. Dark and glooming. / Black on black. Storm is looming." Succinct couplets trace wind and rain to their gentler aftermath until "Glitter stars,/ twinkling light./ Black on gold.../ on silver night." Inviting illustrations set this meteorological report on a cozy farm. Dogs and children, alarmed by thunder, scoot inside; farm animals scurry for shelter. Post-storm revelers include blissful pigs in mud and a puddle-happy child. Krommes's (The House in the Night) scratchboard technique--elegant yet assertive black outlines; sturdy rounded forms; strong compositions where straight lines (such as pelting rain) counterpoint the prevailing curves (from a puddle to the earth itself)--makes this a particularly handsome book, here glowing with a rainbow of added watercolor. To extend the pleasurable shivers and delights of summer storms, share this with Hesse's Come On, Rain! (rev. 7/99) and McCloskey's Time of Wonder