Carrumba!
This zingy color primer takes its inspiration from "the spicy hot colors [that] sizzle on a Saturday night" throughout Latin America. Shahan (Jazzy Alphabet
) riffs on the many ways that color plays out, south of the border: "Green as Mexican iguanas/ Slither/ Slide/ Samba!/ Green as cilantro and cactus./ Wiggle/ Waggle/ Rumba!" Barragán (Love to Mama
), a native of Ecuador, turns this free association into dazzling posters rendered in collage-like layers of bold shapes and vibrantly contrasting tones. The highlighted color often makes clear a new vocabulary word, too, such as the swash of orange worn by a several silhouetted figures, known as a sarape
("colorful shawl or blanket"). A multi-horned iguana strides the "Green
/Verde
" spread; standing amid cactus prickles and cilantro leaves, he flicks his red tongue. A few pages later, a panoply of warm browns (pardo
) work in tandem to convey a tray of pinwheeled, star-shaped buñeulos (fried dough) alongside a guitarist strumming a serenade on a chocolate-colored guitar. A short glossary and pronunciation guide conclude this feast for eyes and ears. Ages 3-8. (Oct.)
