HEATWAVE by Lauren Redniss is hot stuff

In a sea of picture books that look so much alike… HEATWAVE, written and superbly illustrated by Lauren Redniss burns right off the shelf. It almost looks too hot to touch. Lauren Redness uses just three colors: red, blue, and black (plus, minimally, the white of the page) along with spare text to emphasize an extraordinarily hot day at the beach for a boy and his dog. Yearning for relief… a raindrop, a downpour, then the cool of the evening as the sun sets. Visually, the author/illustrator uses color to cleverly enforce and tell even more of the story. It’s almost a visual interpretation of ‘scratch and sniff’ adding an unexpected element to the reader’s experience.

This unique and special picture book embodies picture-book-making as a true form of art. HEATWAVE explores the powerful use of graphic design and color to emphasize an important issue facing our world today. The dedication at the front is to “all the young activists fighting for environmental justice and a healthy future for Planet Earth,” thus leaving the book itself open for conversation (or not) about the issue of global warming— it’s not mentioned in the text of the story… it’s just, “too hot.”

Artistically, this gorgeous book also opens the door for color learning with readers. Being able to talk about warm tones, cool tones, complimentary colors and how they can work both together and to contrast each other. Not to mention the ahhhhhh-mazing and complicated page layouts and compositions Lauren uses throughout.

Lauren Redniss has created a brilliant book art masterpiece. So vibrant, so successful, so important, so creative, so different, so unique, so beautiful.

It almost feels too hot to touch. Pick up a copy today, but be careful not to burn yourself! 🔥☀️