Two Rainbows

by Sophie Masson, Michael McMahon (Illustrations)

All the colors of the rainbow are explored against the striking backdrop of two different worlds. Lyrical text tells the story of a girl who has moved from a farm into the city, and learns that color surrounds all of us, no matter where we live.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Storytime, Juvenile, Kids

48 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 2018

About the author

Born in Indonesia of French parents, Sophie Masson was sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Toulouse, France, when she was just a baby and lived there till she was nearly five, when her parents came back from Indonesia and took her to Australia. All the rest of her childhood, the family stayed in Australia, with frequent trips back to France, and this dual heritage underpins a good deal of Sophie's work.
Sophie's first book appeared in 1990 and since then she has published more than seventy books, for children, young adults and adults. Her books have been published in Australia, the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and many other countries. She has also had many short stories and articles published in newspapers, magazines, and online journals.
Sophie holds a BA and M.Litt in French and English literature, and a PhD in Creative Practice. A former Chair of the Australian Society of Authors, she is the current Chair (2021) of the New England Writers' Centre and of the Small Press Network. She is also the President committee of the New England and North West sub-branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia, NSW branch.
Sophie has received several awards for her creative work, including the Patricia Wrightson Prize in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and the YA category of the Aurealis Awards. In 2019 she received an AM in the Order of Australia for her significant service to literature as an author, a publisher, and through service to literary organisations.
Sophie's website is at www.sophiemassonauthor.com
She has a writing blog at www.firebirdfeathers.com
Her You Tube channel, with trailers to many of her books, is at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWLa...
She is also a regular contributor to the popular authorship blog Writer Unboxed, www.writerunboxed.com

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant illustrations with nice color punctuation. The text/plot was kind of weak: it was a rather mild version of the old "the country is so much nicer than the city" theme, and ends even more feebly on a "but the city is okay too" note. Not sure what the point was.

[KC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the illustrations and the text was okay.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book, juxtaposing city and farm, doesn't provide the clearest exploration of colors, so it's not great as a totally entry-level concept book. Some of the colors appear fuzzy and less-than-vibrant, making them difficult to spot--especially among the cityscapes. Also, I think the city is rendered a bit harshly (and unrealistically) at times: sooo much gray, so little color.

Nevertheless, it's a lovely book, full of fun and sweet details, and it offers a poetic approach to exploring the concept of colors (e.g., for violet: "On the farm, violet was the edge of storm clouds over the mountains.") that I appreciate.

[Sue Winson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about colours, and the comparison between the city and the farm. The farm is vast, boundless, with space to run and chase around, peaceful and calm. The city is packed, complicated, full of structures and people, sometimes grayish and feels a bit dull. Whilst green is the colour of a small poster at the bus stop; on the farm, green is the color of the vast fresh grass and moss on rocks. Blue is the colour of the paint of fence in the city, but it is the beautiful colour of the sheepdog's eyes and the shimmer of dragonfly.

I think it is quite obvious that the little girl prefers the farm. But if you ask me, I think both the illustrations of the city and farm are equally amazing and beautiful, and I wouldn't mind being at each surroundings. I love the two-dimensional art, detailed, cute and pleasing to the eyes. The texts are simple and easy to read, though nothing too spectacular as a children book.

22-month old little-AJ likes looking at the pictures. Mummy thinks they are masterpieces, and each of them can be framed and hung on the walls.

Blog review here: https://storypleasemummy.wordpress.co...

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This beautifully illustrated picture book by popular author Sophie Masson reveals the perspective of a farm girl who moves to the city. Each double layout page firstly describes one of the colours of the rainbow from how it is observed in the city then compares on the next layout pages to the same colour on the farm. The little girl’s homesickness for the wide open spaces of the farm virtually pours from the pages. The city pages are full of people and are dull, grey and crowded with only a speck of colour, whereas the farm pages are vast, open and bursting with colour and life. At the end of the book though the little girl realises that the large storm clouds she sees are the same as the large storm clouds on the farm. This is a wonderful introduction to the idea of perspective and the way we choose to look at what we see around us.

[Isabel Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little girl compares her present city life to her past farm life using the colors of the rainbow. Though the two environments are largely different, she highlights a special similarity while doing her run-through of the colors. Her exploration of colors and reflections on lifestyles and landscapes are original and thoughtful.

Though I enjoyed the story, the book is not particularly interactive. With its focus on minute details, it is best suited for a one-on-one reading time rather than a group storytime. That way, children and their parents/teachers/caregivers will be able to focus on each of the striking colorful details.

[Alicia Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be very striking in the shelf and I understand what it was trying to convey, but it just isn’t something that I can see rereading often. It would be very helpful for readers working through a moving transition though as it discusses how country and city living can have similarities.

For: readers working through a recent move from the country to the city; readers wanting a book about color or rainbows.

Red flags: The city is seen as drab even though there are spots of color, but some readers may find it too sad.

[Stacie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A country rainbow 🌈 and a city rainbow 🌈 introduce young children to the colours. The monochromatic illustrations, while richly textured, do not show the colours in their true brilliance. The story itself does not follow the arc of its titular inspiration either, ending abruptly with a violet storm. If only this team had added two more pages - one with all the colours of the country rainbow 🌈 and all of the colours of the city rainbow 🌈 connecting into one rich palette 🎨 of the protagonist’s bilocated life. 😔

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't tell if it was the art or what I was bringing to it that made me feel like the illustrator was more keen on the country than the city. That said, there is a lot of grey in the book and grey has a much different connotation in the city than in the country. This is a gentle book and the art will make you feel things.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoy this minimalist story of the rainbow in the city and the rainbow on the farm. Gorgeous book.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young child looks at a rainbow and remembers the difference in the colors between the city where she lives now and the country where she lied before. Nice ending. Preschool and up

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alternating text compares a child's new home in the city with her family's farm. The pattern breaks at the end, maybe to give some hope of sameness and familiarity in new surroundings?

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated book comparing the colors of the city and the colors of the country in terms of the rainbow.

[Katrina Clohessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story explores the differences between a city and a country farm through the lens of color, but ends on a note of similarity that ties the two together. 38 pages

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this comparison/contrast book of colors in the city and colors in the country. Soft illustrations.

[Katelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

finding colors in every day life.

the art is minimalist but beautiful.

[Kate Nichter · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE! This book was amazing! There are no people or a point of view however, the book was very easy to follow. The setting changes from the farm to the city which is the reason why this book is called "Two Rainbows." The illustrations are easy to look at and figure out but are still intriguing. Most of the design on the farm is on the bottom half of the page but in the city, the illustrations take up the entire page.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book compares colors seen in the city with those seen in the country. I like that the author used the rainbow colors in order!

[Kids Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

colours need to be more vibrant and more distinct in the 'city'. Author favours the 'county'

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wistful look at life between the city and the farm.

[DiAnne Warfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

CADL FB Live story time 03-14-2022

[Annie MacPherson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Depressing!

[Natalie Haggard · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the most depressing picture books I've read, and now I want to write my own to fix it.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compares the colors found in the city to those in the country. The colorful country spreads are simple, but very moving (especially that indigo night sky). The words are very lush and poetic (more of a literary style). The ending felt a little abrupt--I wish there had been more to wrap things up, but this was pretty.