Elmer's Colors

Elmer

by David McKee

Elmer, every child's favorite patchwork elephant, introduces toddlers to colors.

Elmer the elephant is bright-colored patchwork all over. Who could be a gentler and friendlier teacher than Elmer? This is a simple and sweet way for the youngest readers to choose their favorite colors.

This board book edition has sturdy, thick pages, perfect for the youngest readers.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Italian Literature

16 pages, Board book

First published March 14, 1994

About the author

David McKee was a British writer and illustrator, chiefly of children's books and animations. He also used the pseudonym Violet Easton. He is frequently referenced as David (John) McKee. He has been commended for his gentle, playful but insightful stories.

For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was UK nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick look through our board books before they go up to the attic to make some room on the overloaded book shelves.

This Elmer book looks at colours, despite being just that, Elmer and colours it was a favourite from our Elmer books for some reason. Elmer is a wonderful character and the simplicity of this one works well.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

«Veux-tu entrer dans le monde coloré d'Elmer, l'éléphant bariolé?» J'ai dit «oui» et je ne l'ai pas regretté. J'ai non seulement appris les couleurs, mais aussi des choses sur la vie.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Punainen lanka ja juonen kehitys vähän hukassa. Teosta voisi ajatella lyhyeksi ja yksinkertaiseksi, mutta se on kaikkea muuta. Miks Elmeri on yhtäkkiä Mordorissa? "Pilkkopimeä yö on musta", mutta puoli sivua on vihreää. Mikä moraalinen opetus on sillä, että Elmeri syö jäätelönsä nopeasti? Miksi Elmeri valitsee mansikkajäätelön? Joitakin pohdintojani mainitakseni. Viihdyttävästi piirrettyjä lintuja. Ehkä liian intellektuelli teos makuuni, mutta suosittelen silti. Skumpan kera. Sunnuntaisynttäreillä.

[معصومه توکلی · Rating 4 out of 5]

عنوان ترجمه فارسی: رنگ های المر

[BibliofiliaFull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo compré para mi sobrina y me ha encantado la ilustración.

[Kaitlin Ayers]

Text-to-Text
This book reminded me a lot of the book Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see? This book teaches colors just like Brown Bear. All the colors in the book are in squares of different colors on this elephant. A math activity you could do with the students is graphing. Have number 1-10 and let them sort the squares by color and graph the squares. Cute book!

[Elizabeth Bardsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very simple picture book which talks about colours. This book would be very useful to use within a Reception classroom to help them understand names of colours and how to identify them - e.g. white is a snowman, yellow is a lemon. Corresponding these colours to objects that are notoriously that colour will help children to visualise colours along with their names and bring them to be able to remember colours.

I would have this book within the library area of the classroom for them to look at as they would be able to 'read' it themselves using the pictures if they could not yet understand the writing. Overall this would be a good book to help introduce Reception to colours at the beginning or end of the day as a quick activity.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice and sweet, loved to reminisce my times in primary school, as this was one of the headmaster's favourites. However, I felt that half the colours being compared with the sky felt like there was some lack of creativity. It's true that the sky can take many different hues, but there are also so many other things that are black, red or blue!

[Andrés · Rating 3 out of 5]

The structure of the sentences is interesting, with the color word as the subject of the sentence. This is similar to what I recently learned about teaching colors, but the reverse. “The lemon is the color yellow.” This book says “Yellow is a lemon.” Maybe this will resonate for some kids. Separately, I find Elmer’s colors a bit overwhelming.

[Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story about a colorful elephant. It is a good story to go through with small children to assist in identifying colors. The colors of the items match what you would expect them to be such as pink for a strawberry ice cream. I certainly enjoy the images as they are fun, vibrant, and simple.

[Kynlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute book about colors

[Ariberna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Infantil divertido. Diversidad.u

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book

[Jesus · Rating 3 out of 5]

The colours included are green, blue, pink, red, black, white... I think I may be forgetting one. Time to read it again.

[Ahsly Valles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es una libro fácil y comprensible para los pequeños del hogar. A través de frases simples y concretas tu hijo aprende de forma divertida los colores. Muy recomendable para las primeras lecturas.

[asiya | アセヤ (free palestine) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sweet and soft-hearted book. 😊

[Joana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um clássico!

[Addie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. 2 year old liked it

[Negar]

*ورژن فارسی

[Terminus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elmar ist irgendwie nicht geheuer

[Gabiblioteca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro de un personaje que se ha vuelto un clásico entre quienes inician la lectura.
Un libro que se disfruta en voz alta y que acompaña muy bien las primeras lecturas personales.
Funciona bien para leer durante el día o la noche.
Tiene el componente adicional de hablar de los colores. La ilustración acompaña bien la historia.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the English/Arabic bilingual version of this book. The abstract drawings are hardly recognizable to my 2-year old. He paid no attention to this book at all when he was 18 months and younger. It is not among his favorites, though he now recognizes some of the objects in the pictures. Some, such as the "strawberry ice lolly" are not familiar to him at all. It is not one of the better books for learning colors, either. All the colors are listed on the first page, and then repeated on other pages throughout the book, but the colored objects seem incidental to the rest of the picture background and not clearly the focus.

[Kyle Jorris]

“Elmer's Colors” is a simple, short, but fascinating read. David McKee encourages racial awareness with his main character, Elmer. Elmer is full of primary and secondary colored squares that also teach color association through his story. You can tell this book is from 1994 from the look of its printing style, but you feel more of a nostalgic feel that can still interest today’s kids. It is built sturdy, and will endure through the abuse of your toddlers.

[Ahmad Worthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book because, the character Elmer the elephant things he is so different from the rest of the elephants due to his color. But little do he find out that the more different you are, the more unique you are as am individual.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute Spanish-English board book. The story line connects colors to Elmer's activities. Cute. I will send this home with students, encouraging literacy in both Spanish and English.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elmer is a colorful elephant. Teaches basic colors.

[Edna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elmer, the colorfully checkered elephant, points out nature's colors (with Somali language).

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, simple story about colors. Elmer the elephant is a patchwork elephant of colors.

[Dorian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cute book. The very colorful elephant explores his very colorful world. This would be fun to use in early childhood classes (or just at home)to show children just how colorful their world is.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, basic book about colors.