Kita and the Magic Paint is an animal adventure fantasy for children, grades k-3, written by Laura Schaumer and illustrated by Pardeep Mehra. What better way for Kita, a young raccoon, and her friend, Bushy the squirrel, to spend a sunny day than to paint the daisies that grow so abundantly in their field? Kita started painting her daisy blue, while Bushy painted his red. Then they decided to swap paints and make their daisies blue-and-red and red-and-blue. What a surprise for them to discover that each flower turned purple! Bushy decided it must be magic, and they both decided to try other combinations of colors to see what happened. They substituted yellow paint for the red in their next set of flowers -- can you guess what color they came up with?

Laura Schaumer’s Kita and the Magic Paint is an inspiring and fun introduction to color theory for young children. I can’t think of a better way to get kids motivated to create their own masterpieces even if they have to substitute paper for those glorious white daisies that Kita and Bushy have at their disposal. Pardeep Mehra’s bright and cheerful illustrations capture the excitement and fun brilliantly and make the magic happen. Each panel brims with lovely little details such as ladybugs, butterflies, and those magically enhanced flowers. Whether crayons, face paints, colored chalk, or wet/dry paints are available, this book offers caregivers the perfect way to get kids into a creative frame of mind. And while it’s a grand selection for storytime, the vocabulary and font used make it a perfect early reader primer as well. Kita and the Magic Paint is most highly recommended.

Kita and the Magic Paint by Laura Schaumer, illustrated by Pardeep Mehra, is the cutest children’s book. The story features Kita, a lovely raccoon, and her friend, Bushy, the squirrel, who are engaged in experimenting with painting and learning about colors and magic. The illustrations are beautiful, bright, vivid, and I could even go as far as to say flashing in a fabulous way!

Kita and the Magic Paint by Laura Schaumer is a tale which will teach very young children or students about colors, how they mix to offer new colors in their own magical way, how they make our world shine and become more fun, more alive as these two young animals are doing. Having fun whatever happens because life can be so good when you look at it with the eyes of an innocent child and when you are still (or again) able to notice all the good that the outdoors can bring us. But this tale amounts to much more than that and is also a narrative focusing on empathy, friendship, sharing, and being a good neighbor, which are all so important in these times of crisis.

I loved everything about this amazing children’s book which I will definitely read to my youngest grandson (while translating it into French). I thank the author and illustrator for sharing such a jewel, bound to help so many kids learn in a fun environment and love reading and perusing books, hopefully for life, as it often only takes one great book to nurture a love of reading!