On 2004-04-10 E. R. Bird, Manhattan, NY wrote: Ostensibly a story about color and optical illusion. What´s odd about this fairly peculiar little picture book is that I found myself enjoying the plot and pictures far more than the actual illusions themselves. The storyline is as follows: Marva is your typical inventor. One day she finds herself an accidental redhead (thanks to a ketchup based explosion) and then, in turn, an orangehead. As Marva tries to change the color of her hair, she also finds herself having problems doing her laundry. Colors mix and switch and soon poor Marva is changing the color of everything she owns. Along the way kids learn about various color based optical illusions and what colors will change shades when mixed with other primaries. In the end, Marva finds love in the handsome laundrette owner Hari Panjabi.
I´m having a hard time conveying what it is I liked about this book. Apart from the fact that I LOVE that this book had a character named Hari Panjabi (quick: name three picture books that contain romantic Indian characters..... GO!) I also enjoyed the illustrations. Marva´s a hoot. She´s a short haired artistic type, prone to all black outfits and wild purple hair. Admittedly after seeing the cover of the book I had a bit of a shock when I found out that Marva was a girl (she´s definitely a little boyish sometimes) but on the whole she´s great. The illustrations work well when they´re explaining color combinations. I had some difficulty making the occasional illusion work. Try as I might I just could not get green spots to appear on Marva´s face. But most work just fine and help the story along. If you want something lively and a touch bizarre, this is a good choice. I can pretty much guarantee that you´ve not seen anything like this ever before (and will probably never see again, I´d wager).. And summed up by saying Marvelous magnificent Marva. Currently It´s Me, Marva : A Story About Color and Optical Illusions has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
It´s Me, Marva : A Story About Color and Optical Illusions can also be found in the following searches:
Knopf Books for Young Readers claimed Meet Marva, absent-minded inventor whose day is a series of mixed-up colors and illusions. She tries changing her hair color but gets unexpected results, puts her blue jeans in the washing machine with her yellow scarf and her red shirt (the shirt turns purple and the scarf comes out green), and when she looks in the mirror after gazing at some polka-dot wallpaper, she thinks she has measles.Marjorie Priceman’s story about a muddle-headed but lovable heroine is propelled by a host of clever optical tricks worked seamlessly into bold cut-paper illustrations. It’s Me, Marva! is a sneaky science lesson, a playful romp of a story, and fun and games for the eye.
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