Sunday, March 20, 2016

REVIEW: Out of the Blue: A Book of Color Idioms and Silly Pictures by Vanita Oelschlager with illustrations by Robin Hegan

***** (5) out of 5 stars!

What a great idea for a book! I had no idea there were so many color related idioms in the English language. Many of them are so integral a part of life here in the USA that we don’t even think of them. As the author points out in her Afterwards, there is no way to understand these figures of speech without being told what they are. A literal translation of the words themselves give you no indicate of what the phrase actually means. As the mother of a child with autism who takes everything literally, and as the wife of someone who is not a native English speaker, I am constantly reminded of how difficult idioms can be to understand. This book takes a playful approach to them by showing what people probably think of when they consider just the words of these figures of speech. The drawings are bright, fun and clear, but not so complicated as to be distracting. I love that each page also tells you the intended meaning of the idiom, along with an example of it in a sentence. These explanations are in a bottom corner of the page and up-side-down so as not to divert attention from the main photo and text. I understand that the author has other books along this same line, i.e. idioms and silly pictures, which I will now have to seek out and read as well! 

I received a digital copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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