Jamey Christoph

April 3 – Find a Rainbow Day

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About the Holiday

As the old proverb goes, “April showers bring May flowers,” but all that rain brings something else—rainbows! The science behind rainbows was first discovered in 1693, when scientists realized that this phenomenon is caused by light from the sun being refracted through raindrops and causing a dazzling show. Today, I wish you a rainy day and happy rainbow hunting! A perfect place to find rainbows every day and in amazing places beyond the sky is in today’s book!

A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World

 

By Matt Forrest Esenwine | Illustrated by Jamey Christoph

 

Rainbows are a universally loved natural phenomenon. The excitement of seeing a rainbow arcing across the sky never goes away no matter how old you get. And a double rainbow? For some people, seeing one of those can be like glimpsing a celebrity. In the 22 poems that make up A Universe of Rainbows, Matt Forrest Esenwine and 19 other poets reveal that you don’t always have to wait for rain to be awed by the brilliance of this spectrum of colors as they abound in nature: on land, in waters, on plants and animals, and even in the depths of space.

Illustration © 2025 by Jamey Christoph, text © 2025 by NIkki Grimes. Courtesy of Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Nikki Grimes leads off this lyrical odyssey that invites readers to travel around the world and beyond to discover rainbows in many forms. In Grimes’ “Rainbows of Light,” she channels the disappointment of a child facing a rainy day with “. . . No hopscotch. / No soccer. / No softball / no skip rope. . . .” The child “. . . curse[s] the rain” until they “catch the storm’s apology: / sun-drenched strips of color / arch across the sky— / A rainbow! / Oh! My!” 

You might think that rainbows occur in nature only during the day, but Joyce Sidman, reveals otherwise in her intricate and arresting pantoum “Along the Zambezi.” Sidman animates a moonbow, entreating readers to take a moment to look as “This dancer will not leap for long / over the span of Victoria Falls,” where “. . . a full moon crowns the darkened hill” while “. . . Mist swirls up in silver shawls, / bending moonlight’s slanting spill.” 

Illustration © 2025 by Jamey Christoph, text © 2025 by David L. Harrison. Courtesy of Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Rainbow seekers do not always need to look toward the sky to find the glorious hues of rainbows. In his rhythmic “Reflections on the Pool,” David L. Harrison nimbly combines assonance and consonance to introduce kids to the surprising Morning Glory Pool in Yellowstone National Park. Harrison describes how this hot spring—a “miracle of nature . . . / Blessed with bacteria tinted blue”—once appeared as vividly blue, but now, because of human interference, is developing a “rainbow of colors” as other types of bacteria take over. Together the poem and sidebar provide a concrete example of the value of conservation and a gripping entry into further study or research. 

Readers also learn about a uniquely dressed tree, Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s “skirted pinwheel” of a flower, two varieties of birds, and incredible creatures of the sea and land that shimmer and glimmer with the colors of a rainbow. In “Elegant Danger,” Matt Forrest Esenwine exposes the “captivating beauty / with radiant appeal” of the peacock mantis shrimp that has “An appetite of titans. / Attitude of steel.”  into space to float within the Rainbow Nebula with poet Georgia Heard. 

Each poem is accompanied by a short and fascinating side bar offering more information about the natural phenomena that inspired the work.

Back matter includes a list of recommended books and websites where readers can find more information about the rainbows described in each poem as well as a glossary.

Illustration © 2025 by Jamey Christoph, text © 2025 by Janet Wong. Courtesy of Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

For the twenty award-winning writers who’ve contributed to Matt Forrest Esenwine’s debut poetry anthology, unique rainbows occurring in nature have inspired a wide range of contemplation and poetic form. Some are awe-struck, others hold a touch of humor, and still others are conversational. One thing they all have in common is an ability to transport readers to another place or just the right moment to witness one of life’s most astonishing sights. Through each poem, readers learn facts but they also discover how to observe with curiosity, appreciate the miraculous, and commit to preserving our natural wonders. 

Jamey Christoph’s multi-media illustrations mesmerize with brilliant color that tantalizes like a magic spell, slipping through ice crystals, hiding in plain sight, turning pools of water and majestic trees into artists’ palettes, and clothing creatures of the air, sea, and land. You might be tempted to think that these natural phenomenon can’t possibly be so vivid in real life, but take a look (these poems encourage further research) and you’ll find that Christoph’s full-spread images mirror their inspirations. Beautiful and stirring, each page welcomes you to linger awhile.

Encompassing riveting writing by award-winning poets, spellbinding illustrations of natural phenomena, and nearly endless applications for science, writing, and art study and discovery, A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World is a must for school and public library collections as well as for any reader who loves inspired writing and nature.  

Ages 6 – 10

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2025 | ISBN 978-0802855718

About the Author

Matt Forrest Esenwine is a children’s author and poet whose books include The Thing to Remember about Stargazing (Tilbury House), Once Upon Another Time (Beaming), and A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human (Beaming). His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and featured in numerous anthologies. Also a voiceover actor and commercial copywriter, Matt lives in Warner, New Hampshire, with his family. Visit his website at mattforrest.com.

About the Illustrator

Jamey Christoph has illustrated over twenty books, including The Great Lakes (Knopf), Stonewall (Random House), and Outside My Window (Eerdmans). His books have been named to many best-of-the-year list, including from the CBC and NYPL. Jamey lives in New Hampshire with his husband and their crazy dogs. Visit Jamey’s website at jameychristoph.com and follow him on Instagram @jameychristoph.

National Find a Rainbow Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-rainbow-magnet-craft

Mini Rainbow Magnet

 

If you’re stuck on rainbows, you can make this mini rainbow to stick on your fridge or locker!

Supplies

  • 7 mini popsicle sticks (or cut regular popsicle sticks in half)
  • Paint in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Indigo, violet (ROYGBIV)
  • Adhesive magnet
  • A little bit of polyfill
  • Paint brush
  • Glue or hot glue gun

Directions

  1. Paint one popsicle stick in each color, let dry
  2. Glue the popsicle sticks together side by side in the ROYGBIV order, let dry
  3. Roll a bit of polyfill into a cloud shape and glue to the top of the row of popsicle sticks
  4. Attach the magnet to the back of the rainbow

You can purchase A Universe of Rainbows from these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop (discounted books and support for your local independent bookstore)

Picture Book Review 

April 30 – Arbor Day

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celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-up-in-the-leaves-cover

About the Holiday

Today is Arbor Day, a national celebration of trees that began as a campaign by J. Morton Sterling and his wife after they moved from Michigan to Nebraska in 1854. Morton advocated for the planting of trees not only for their beauty but as windbreaks for crops on the state’s flat farmland, to keep soil from washing away, as building materials, and for shade. In 1872, Morton proposed a tree-planting day to take place on April 10. On that day nearly one million trees were planted in Nebraska. The idea was made official in 1874, and soon, other states joined in. In 1882 schools began taking part. Today, most states celebrate Arbor Day either today or on a day more suited for their growing season. To learn about events in your area, find activities to download, and more, visit the Arbor Day Foundation website.

Up in the Leaves: The True Story of the Central Park Treehouses

Written by Shira Boss | Illustrated by Jamey Christoph

 

Bob lived in New York, a city crowded with buildings, people, and vehicles. Walking along on the sidewalk, “Bob didn’t like all that rushing around, the eyes of so many people, all those feet on the ground.” He climbed whatever he could find—onto lampposts, up to his apartment building’s roof, even the wall of the castle in Central Park. At school, Bob felt hemmed in by the desks, small classrooms, and packed hallways.

Every day as soon as school let out, Bob ran to Central Park, where it was cool, calm, and uncrowded. People moved slowly there or relaxed on the green grass. The “trees waved their branches in the air, inviting him to come up.” And so he did. Bob scampered up the path made by the bark and climbed higher and higher using the ladder the trees’ limbs provided. He explored cherry trees, pine trees, beech trees, and oak trees. “Each tree was its own world, every limb an adventure.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-up-in-the-leaves-central-park

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2018, text copyright Shira Boss, 2018. Courtesy of Sterling Children’s Books.

Through the leaves that hid him, Bob could look out over the city. It was quieter and everything looked so small. Bob decided to build himself a treehouse. With scavenged wood and rope, he built a small platform and after school he climbed up to where he could read, think, and listen to the sounds of nature. He even brought peanuts for the squirrels. But one day when he came to the park, his treehouse was gone.

So Bob built another one. This one was bigger, better hidden in the leaves, and had shelter. When rain and wind came, “Bob’s treehouse rocked and swayed—he was a sailor on a ship at sea.” But when the leaves fell in the fall, Bob’s treehouse was discovered and taken down again. In the spring, Bob constructed another treehouse. This one had a long platform and a sturdy house with walls and a roof. Bob devised a rope-and-pulley “elevator” to bring up supplies like “milk crates for tables and chairs” books, snacks, and even his friends.

When the sun went down, Bob stayed and looked at the stars and planets with a telescope he’d set up on the platform. “He became an astronaut, navigating the cosmos.” Seasons came and went and Bob grew older. Each time a treehouse was taken down, he built a bigger and better one.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-up-in-the-leaves-stargazing

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2018, text copyright Shira Boss, 2018. Courtesy of Sterling Children’s Books.

Bob’s mom worried that he was spending too much time up in the trees. She wanted him to get a job like everyone else. But he didn’t want to spend his time commuting on a crowded train and moving along crowded sidewalks to work in a crowded office. He didn’t want to deal with the noise and smog-filled air. “Instead, he built the biggest treehouse of all. Five levels and a bridge! Bob was very proud.” He even slept there.

One morning he awoke to voices calling up to him. The park rangers were ordering him to come down. Sadly, he descended. But the man in charge wasn’t angry. He offered Bob a job taking care of the trees. Bob enthusiastically said, “‘I would love to work here!’” Even though he couldn’t build any more treehouses, he still spent his days in the canopy of the trees, climbing up, up, up with special ropes and saddle to trim branches and make sure the trees were healthy. Sometimes at night, though, Bob still found his way to a high, leafy perch to gaze at the stars.

An Epilogue, including a picture of Bob Redman sitting on a branch of one of his beloved trees, tells more about Bob Redman, his treehouses, and what he’s doing now.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-up-in-the-leaves-mom

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2018, text copyright Shira Boss, 2018. Courtesy of Sterling Children’s Books.

Shira Boss’s captivating true story of a boy who felt more at home in nature than in the city and grew up to care for the trees he loves is a unique story for all kids who love the adventure of their own treehouse or fort and spending time outdoors. With short staccato sentences Boss recreates the cramped in feeling Bob Redman experienced indoors and while moving through the crowded New York streets. As Bob climbs the trees, Boss’s longer, lyrical sentences echo the freedom of the peace, quiet, and slower pace of life Bob craved. His perseverance in building and rebuilding his treehouses, finally to be recognized for his special gifts will encourage kids who also forge their own path.

Jamey Christoph’s charming soft-hued illustrations take kids quickly from the tall skyscrapers and crowded sidewalks of New York City to the lovely green expanse of Central Park to watch Bob swing from the branches as he climbs higher and higher into the parks varied trees. Readers will envy his agility and view of the city. Readers can almost feel the cooler air and the warm sunshine filtered through the leaves as they turn from page to page. Christoph’s recreations of Bob’s platforms and increasingly complex treehouses will impress kids and adults alike. The final images of Bob working a job he was born to do while still enjoying the trees and the city in his own way will inspire children to stay true to what they love.

A lovely and inspiring book with a unique story that will appeal to all readers and especially those who prefer a life of quiet, thoughtful observation and creativity, Up in the Leaves is highly recommended for home, school, and public libraries.

Ages 5 – 8

Sterling Children’s Books, 2018 | ISBN 978-1454920717

Discover more about Shira Boss and her book, plus a discussion guide with activities on her website

To learn more about Jamey Christoph, his books, and his art, visit his website.

Arbor Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-Climb-a-Tree-Word-Search-Puzzle II

Climb a Tree! Word Search

 

There are so many kinds of trees that make our world beautiful. Can you find the names of twenty threes in this printable puzzle?

Climb a Tree! Word Search Puzzle | Climb a Tree! Word Search Solution

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-up-in-the-leaves-cover

You can find Up In the Leaves: The True Story of the Central Park Treehouses at these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

To support your local independent bookstore, order from

Bookshop | IndieBound

Picture Book Review

 

March 16 – Freedom of Information Day

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Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

Freedom of Information Day is observed today to honor James Madison, who was born March 16, 1751 in Port Conway, Virginia. Madison is widely regarded as the Father of the Constitution and was the 4th President of the United States. He was a leading proponent of openness in government. The Freedom of Information Act, which took effect on July 4 1967, was enacted to promote transparency in government, but the idea of openness and inclusion can pertain to all aspects of society and relationships.

Today we remember all those who work to provide free and honest information and portrayals of government as well as other conditions and situations around the world.

Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America

Written by Carole Boston Weatherford | Illustrated by Jamey Christoph

 

When the 15th child of the Parks family is born, he has neither a heartbeat nor a name. But the doctor is able to revive the nearly dead infant in an ice bath, and the appreciative mother gives her child his name—Gordon. Gordon Parks’ dramatic entry into the world may have given him the unique perspective he used in becoming a renowned photographer and the first black movie director in Hollywood.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-gordon-parks-how-the-photographer-captured-black-and-white-america-gordon-works

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2015, text copyright Carole Boston Weatherford, 2015. Courtesy of Albert Whitman & Company.

Gordon rides a horse across the wide open fields of Kansas to school, but once there his prospects narrow with a white teacher who tells her all-black class that their education will go to waste as they are destined to work as waiters and porters. When he is 14 Gordon’s mother dies, and Gordon moves to Minneapolis. He soon must make his own way, and he finds jobs as a busboy, a piano player, and the predicted waiter and porter.

At the age of 25 Gordon reads about the plight of migrant workers and, inspired, buys a camera. Gordon has discovered his natural talent—a unique eye on the world. After only a month he exhibits his photographs in a camera store and is soon engaged in fashion and portrait photography. His work takes him to Chicago, where he documents the struggling families living on the South Side and wins a job with the government in Washington DC. Encouraged by his boss to find a subject for his work, Gordon focuses his lens on the black families living in the back alleys and in the shadows of the Capitol’s great monuments.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-gordon-parks-how-the-photographer-captured-black-and-white-america-gordon-sees-a-camera

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2015, text copyright Carole Boston Weatherford 2015. Courtesy of Albert Whitman & Company.

Through his photographs Gordon vows to expose the racism blacks face in housing, shops, restaurants, and other institutions. Looking for a personal subject, Gordon talks to Ella Watson, a cleaning lady in his office building. Ella supports five children on only $1,000 a year and knows hardship. Gordon accompanies her and her grandchildren, taking pictures wherever they go and of whatever they are doing. They become the inspiration for his greatest work.

Over his lifetime Gordon Parks will break barriers in the publishing and entertainment industries, becoming the first black photographer for Vogue and Life magazines and the first black director in Hollywood. He writes novels and poetry and composes music. But the work that becomes his most famous is a photograph of Ella Watson standing in front of the American flag, with her broom in hand. Called “American Gothic,” this picture fulfills Park’s determination to expose segregation and the hopes of all people struggling under its inequality.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-gordon-parks-how-the-photographer-captured-black-and-white-america-gordon-in-washington

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2015, text copyright Carole Boston Weatherford, 2015. Courtesy of Albert Whitman & Company.

Carole Boston Weatherford’s portrayal of Gordon Parks’ life is as starkly revealing as her subject’s photographs. With her writer’s skills, however, she deftly contrasts the facts of his life and turns his story into a universal metaphor for freedom and the struggle to attain it: “When young Gordon crosses the prairie on horseback, nothing seems beyond reach. But his white teacher tells her all-black class, you’ll all wind up porters and waiters. What did she know?” Weatherford’s pacing also adds to the story’s power. Although Parks attained wide acclaim, this biography ends with one of his earlier photographs—a picture of Ella Watson, a cleaning lady, who inspired Parks and came to symbolize the hopes of her generation and beyond. This is not only Parks’ story, but the story of millions of others.

Jamey Christoph continues and strengthens the metaphorical force of this biography in his illustrations. Readers first see Gordon Parks as a much-loved, smiling infant. He goes to school and grows up, his expression changing, slightly but importantly. He acquires his camera, and the pages are filled with drawn representations of his black-and-white photographs. Alternating dark and light pages further emphasize Parks’ world. The darkroom contrasts with Parks’ new bright office and prospects; the shadowed back alleys of Washington DC contrast with the city’s gleaming white marble monuments. Later photographs are also depicted, and “American Gothic” is represented on two pages. Christoph provides readers with much to see and ponder.

Ages 5 – 8

Albert Whitman & Company, 2015 | ISBN 978-0807530177

Ages 5 – 8

Albert Whitman & Company, 2015 | ISBN 978-0807530177

Freedom of Information Day Activity

CPB - New Professionals Picture

News Professionals Clothespin Figures

Make one of these clothespin figures that honors the men and women who work to keep the world informed.

Supplies

Directions

  1. Draw a face and hair on the clothespin
  2. Cut out the clothes you want your journalist or photographer to wear
  3. Wrap the clothes around the clothespin. The slit in the clothespin should be on the side.
  4. Tape the clothes together
  5. Cut out the camera
  6. Tape one end of a short length of thread to the right top corner of the camera and the other end of the thread to the left corner. Now you can hang the camera around the figure’s neck.

Idea for displaying the figures

  • Attach a wire or string to the wall and pin the figure to it
  • Pin it to your bulletin board or on the rim of a desk organizer