Rainbow Joe and Me

By Maria Diaz Strom
Paperback: $11.95

A girl learns the power of imagination from her blind neighbor.

Front cover for Joe Arco Iris y yo by Maria Diaz Strom and Maria Diaz Strom
This book is also available in Spanish
Joe Arco Iris y yo
By Maria Diaz Strom

Description

Eloise likes colors. Her friend, Rainbow Joe, likes colors, too. But Rainbow Joe is blind, so Eloise tells him about the colors she mixes and the fantastic animals she paints. When Rainbow Joe says he can also imagine and mix colors, Eloise is puzzled. How can a blind man see colors? she wonders.

Little does Eloise know, Rainbow Joe is planning a surprise to show her his special colors. What she finds is a whole new way of seeing the world. Maria Diaz Strom, in her picture book debut, tells an endearing story that celebrates friendship and the power of imagination.

About the Creators

Maria Diaz Strom

Maria Diaz Strom makes her debut as an author and illustrator with Rainbow Joe and Me. A native of Portland, Oregon, she studied art at Portland State University and has illustrated several children's educational books. Until recently, Ms. Strom taught art at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She was inspired to create this book by her students and by her husband's love of jazz. She and her husband now live in San Francisco.

Reviews

  • "A blind musician shows a child new ways of creating colors in this exuberant debut. . . The radiant blues and browns and oranges she has chosen fire her simply composed urban scenes with joie de vivre. Heighten budding painters' awareness of the possibilities of color with this chromatic symphony."

    - Booklist
  • "Strom debuts with a determinedly exuberant book about a cool young African-American artist, Eloise, whose fondness for bold colors and boldly outlined shapes is happily echoed in the full-bleed acrylic spreads.... This exploration of sensory differences and similarities is enlightening and enchanting."

    - Kirkus Reviews

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781584300502
  • Price $11.95
  • Publication Date Sep 01, 1999
  • Trim Size 7.5 × 9 in
  • Weight 0.3125 lbs
  • Page Count 32
  • Word Count 800
  • Hardcover

  • ISBN 9781880000939
  • Price $16.95
  • Publication Date Jan 01, 2100
  • Trim Size N/A
  • Weight 0.4375 lbs
  • Word Count 800
  • Interests

  • Imprint Lee & Low Books
  • Audience Children
  • BISAC Category 1 JUV / People & Places / United States / African American
  • BISAC Category 2 JUV / Disabilities & Special Needs
  • BISAC Category 3 JUV / Concepts / Colors
  • Themes African / African American / Black, Beginning Concepts, Childhood Experiences and Memories, Colors, Disabilities, Empathy / Compassion, Fiction, Friendship, Imagination, Mentors, Music, Realistic Fiction
  • Reading Levels

  • Age Range Ages 5 - 8
  • Grade Range Grades K - 3
  • Guided Reading K
  • ATOS Book Level 2.6
  • DRA 24
  • Lexile Code AD
  • Lexile Level 490
  • Reading Level 2
  • SRC 3.2
  • Bebop Reading Early Fluent
  • This Book is Included in These Collections:

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