Out of the Blue: A Book of Color Idioms and Silly Pictures - Hardcover

Out of the Blue shows children the magic of idioms – words that separately have one meaning, but together take on something entirely different.
Children are curious about words, especially phrases that make them laugh (“Tickled Pink”), sound silly (“Shrinking Violet”) or trigger images that tickle a child’s sense of the absurd (“A Red Letter Day”).
Out of the Blue uses outlandish illustrations of what the words describe literally. The reader then has to guess the “real” meaning of the phrases (which are upside down in the corners of each spread). At the end of the book, the reader is invited to learn more about these figures of speech.
Our first book of idioms, Birds of a Feather (2009), dealt with birds, insects or animals. Our second, Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries (2011) uses food idioms. Out of the Blue uses color idioms. All three are fun – and instructive.

“ Idioms often confuse young children because they express sentiments apart from the words’ literal meanings. They can also become wonderful sources of verbal play, worlds of delight that mark a child’s passage into advanced literacy.
“ Out of the Blue is the latest in Vanita Oelschlager’s series on idioms. It explores the meaning of these phrases through clever illustrations and often hilarious wordplay.
“ Educators and parents can use this book, along with Birds of a Feather and Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries, as springboards in a child’s language learning process. They are excellent resources in any Language Arts curriculum. They can also be integrated into a cre- ative writing program where children write their own interpretation of the idioms, then segue into writing their own idioms. As another creative activity, they can formulate and design their own illustrations depicting the meaning of the idiom.
“ Out of the Blue is a joy to read and play with for readers and writers of all ages!”
Cinda Dehner
National Board Certified Teacher Library Media Specialist Twinsburg City Schools Twinsburg, Ohio