Out of the

BLUEa book of color idioms and silly pictures

written by Vanita Oelschlagerillustrated by Robin Hegan

Show your true colors

If you show your true colors, you show what you are really like inside.

When Susie kicked her dog, we saw her true colors.

elephantWhite

Something unusual or even special, but useless to you, is a white elephant.

Bring all your junk on Saturday to our house for our white elephant sale.

A yellow-bellied person is a person who is not brave or shows no courage.

I was yellow-bellied when I didn’t stand up for my brother when people were picking on him.

-belliedYellow

$8.95

“ 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

creative 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!”

CindaDehner National Board Certified Teacher Library Media Specialist Twinsburg City Schools Twinsburg, Ohio

Out of the

BLUE

www.VanitaBooks.com