“How Billy Hippo learned his colours” by Vivian French and illustrated by Hannah Foley is a sweet, endearing story and a pretty effective help in fixing the main colours. It’s been a huge hit with little gosling and we’ve been reading it with excitement morning and evening. I love reading it myself and it’s a real joy to watch little gosling live through it, so I don’t mind the repetition. 

Little Billy is looking for pink flowers for his dad’s birthday, without having an idea of how pink looks like, or any of the colours. An annoying parrot laughs at him every time he thinks he’s found them, going through yellow, blue, red.. Moved by Billy’s disappointed and helpless tears, the parrot  helps him get the colours right: blue like the sky, yellow like the sun, pink like the clouds in the morning, before sunrise, plus red, green and orange. Little Billy is incredibly sweetly illustrated and Hannah Foley’s minimalist brushes convey so much emotion.. 

Little gosling could identify some of the colours when we met Billy. He now accurately corrects little Billy before the parrot gets a chance to (“that pink no, that is bu”; “pink no, red” :)))) and rightly identifies the colours outside the context of the book. He feels sorry to see Billy sad and he is genuinely happy when Billy finally finds a whole lot of pink flowers.. He impatiently turns the page to the pink flowers before I get the chance to finish reading the one before, with huge excitement on his sweet little face. He also likes the last page, with Billy’s dad’s anniversary celebrations; he associates it with his birthday; “blow candle like bebe” :))). 

I recommend this book from the heart for the youngest ones, as an aide to learn colours, but also as an introduction to anniversaries and gifts. I love it that it should be the dad’s anniversary, that dad’s favourite colour should be pink, of all of them, and that Billy’s present is pink flowers – such a refreshing portrayal of pink as a manly colour and flowers as a universal gift.

I also enjoyed the read aloud version of the author, available on youtube; little gosling a little less, but he usually takes his time …