Rainbow Pups!

Written and illustrated by Sophie Beer

Reviewed by Inda Ahmad Zabri

Rainbow Pups! is a board book aimed at infants and toddlers learning their colours. It features attractive digital illustrations of how three puppies meet and play together, accompanied by colour strip along the bottom of each spread. Starting with a black puppy in a dark room on the first page, each successive colour is introduced as the story progresses, in an arc that is simple for young children to follow. As puppies do, they frolic and play, get messy and predictably find themselves in a situation where they are splattered with all the colours of the rainbow.

Along with black, grey, brown and white, all the rainbow colours are included, with the exception of indigo, which had been substituted by aqua. I thought it was an interesting choice for naming a colour that can also be described as turquoise, mint or simply blue-green. This made the point that there are many ways to describe colours, and I do welcome the uncommon addition to a child’s vocabulary.

As a colour book it is effective, having relatable items that can be pointed out. It was refreshing to see the featured colour in a central role within the spread without completely saturating the entire image.

I like the flow of the story as it provides a narrative, albeit simple, which sets it apart from other early colour books which simply show an object. The puppies at play are adorable and along with the attractive size and square shape of the board book, this will bring a child back to it time and again.

Little Hare Books 2018 board book 26 pages $14.99 ISBN 9781760501945