The New York Times bestseller!
Accept Hervé Tullet's irresistible invitation to mix it up in a dazzling adventure of whimsy and wonder. Follow the artist's simple instructions, and suddenly colors appear, mix, splatter, and vanish in a world powered only by the reader's imagination. Tullet—who joins such greats as Eric Carle and Leo Lionni as a master of his craft—sets readers on an extraordinary interactive journey all within the printed page. Tullet prompts plenty of giggles in addition to a profound understanding of colors, and once again displays his unique genius and vision in a work that is a glorious and richly satisfying companion to Press Here.
- Interactive book of learning color mixtures
- Encourages reading skills, color-learning, cause-effect learning
- Interactive reading makes color-learning stick
- Discover mixtures of blue with red, yellow with blue, red with yellow
- Learn how to make colors lighter with white, darker with black
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Great follow up to the first book!
By The Write Edge
The author of the popular children’s book Press Here has given children another reason to interact with books. Following a familiar layout, Mix It Up! introduces the idea of mixing colors and watching what happens when those colors get smeared, squished, and (what else?) pressed into one another. The result is a book that lives up to its predecessor with a minor hesitation.For those unfamiliar with the first book, Press Here asks its readers to watch what happens through the pages when they touch fingers to various drops of color. Dots of paint multiply and divide, slide from one side of the page to another, and even grow, and all of these things happen only when the reader follows the book’s commands. Hailed by many media outlets as a book that would give the iPad a run for its money, author Herve Tullet encourages children to relate to Press Here in a way that delights and surprises its target audience.Mix It Up! follows a similar format but with more intention. Kids will start the book with an invitation that says, “It’s that time again,” sure to induce grins. This time, however, the book starts with a gray dot and uses the dot as a call to action to invite other colors to join it on the page. Soon enough large primary color blots dominate the spread, but this time the blots really do look like paint blots. Tullet invites kids to rub one color onto the next, introducing and reinforcing the concepts of mixing primary colors to create secondary ones.Tullet instructs readers to start by dabbing one color onto the next, but within several pages he encourages kids to smear the colors into one another. The result brings spreads similar to what children might create in introductory art classes as they explore paint for the first time. Like Press Here, Mix It Up! revels with minimal text in what the reader can bring to a book that always encourages imagination and whimsy like only the best teachers can.The one minor hiccup comes when Tullet tells kids to close the book in an effort to “smoosh” colors together. Younger readers might fumble for a minute or two to find their page again when they’re done “smooshing,” causing a small interruption in the reading process. Because this isn’t a board book, it makes more sense from a tactile standpoint for readers to close the book. Pressing two pages together could possibly cause the pages to come out of the spine after repeated readings. But some readers will most certainly need an adult close to help them find the pages they’d just pressed to continue with the fun.Despite the small logistical challenge, Mix It Up! will certainly encourage readers to come to books with an active mindset. Subtle reminders, like fingerprints and paint smudges at the edges of the pages reinforce that mindset. The book does what the best books always do: it offers readers a chance to participate in the discovery process of a good story.I recommend this book for all children who enjoy reading and who expect their books to delight and amaze them.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful.and fun person to be around
By Sarah
Herve Tullet must be a very vibrant, creative, and fun person to be around. I think he is like the picasso for kids and I mean that in the best ways!! This is our third Herve book we've added to our collection (Press Here and The Scribble Book.) We really enjoy the interactive style he uses in his books, to encourage kids to participate in the story as it goes along.I don't want to compare Mix it Up to Press Here, but because it's the same type of book, by the same author, there are some parallels I will comment on.As a mom what I LOVE about this book is the lack of actual mess. The kids can mix the colors again and again and again... and guess what? We don't end up with some globby pile of weird brown paint. So that alone makes it very enjoyable for me. Herve's books have a sense of magic to them- yes the kids know it's not real paint and they know that the book is pre-printed and they're not actually doing the "mixing" and smushing of the colors. HOWEVER, it's vibrant and fun so much that the story comes to life and POOF= "MAGIC!" They are actually mixing and smushing the colors all over the place (everyone from age 1.5 to 7 participates too!) Here's where I will draw a couple of comparisons- I wish some of the elements below from Press Here were incorporated into Mix It Up.One of the elements that I love about Press Here, that I found lacking in Mix it Up, was the language. I love in PH how the narration gives feedback and guides the child to the next page/concept/action. This is different from MIU, which has things like "What do you think will happen?" then you turn the page, and it says, "Right!" I prefer the feedback and direction, because it ties the language to the concepts in the book. Now, we end up supplementing and making our own language up as we go, but I assume lots of kids will be reading this to themselves, or maybe to their siblings. It leaves a little to be desired, and doesn't feel complete.Similar to the above- PH had a sequence of events- one thing led to another, which led to another, which led to another, and so on. Nothing felt out of place. The only proof of sequence I'm seeing in MIU is the increasing number of faint other-colored fingerprints from previous "mixing" pages. I just feel like a bit more could have been done here to incorporate it all for the kids and really make it as fun and engaging as Herve Tullet's other stories.Now something I LOVE about all three of the books is something that MAKES these stories worth their prices to me. These books are DURABLE. Childrens books cannot be flimsy!!! I hate spending money on hardcover books most of the time because they are still made out of cheap quality materials that will eventually separate and die a sad, broken-binding, torn-page book death, stacked up on a shelf waiting for scotch tape surgery. What is the point of having a fun, engaging children's book that can't withstand use from its targeted audience??! If the material used to make these books ever changes to the standard hard cover/thin pages, I don't think we would purchase them anymore. These books are meant to be shaken, smashed, pressed, and very, very actively handled! The author/publishing company/head-hauncho decision-maker made a GREAT choice when choosing the material of these books. PLEASE don't change it- I know it's probably not the least expensive option. I try to be smart about our book purchases and try not to spend crazy amounts of money on picture books, but if it came down to it, I'd shell out a couple more dollars just to have this high level of quality.My only comment about the material is that something is up with the MIU book cover. The corner of the cover was already starting to peel away from the cardboard backing within 3 times of reading this book. Maybe it's a fluke, because PH never did that and it's been read (re: thrown around, played with, and adored) by some very active kids. I just glued it back down and let it sit overnight under a heavy book and it was fine.Overall (and I totally realize I'm rambling here) I like this book and my kids love it. I just figured that since PH is a tough act to follow, I'd add my thoughts about comparing them, because I'm sure some other parents will too. I read it today to a group of kids aged 1.5, 3, 3.5, 5, and 7, and they all crowded around the book and took turns pressing, smashing, blending, mushing, mixing, and even stepping on the pages to make the mixing magic happen. It's very fun and I do recommend it!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Those Yellow, Red, and Blue Dots Are At It Again ...
By delicateflower152
The red, yellow and blue dots from Herve' Tullet's "Press Here" are at it again! In "Mix it Up!", a gray dot and multiple, different color smudges introduce your child to the interactive style Tullet uses to engage young listeners. Using gentle questions and simple "commands", Tullet draws the child into the book and gives that child a sense of control over the events taking place. Then the red, yellow, and blue dots take over. As the child follows the instructions, the dots combine to demonstrate the way the primary colors mix and form the secondary colors.Printed on glossy, heavy weight paper, the colors in "Mix it Up!" are vivid and clear. Heavy cardboard front and back covers make the book quite sturdy. I liked that "Mix it Up!" used few words, but conveyed complex information in a form a child could easily understand. Like Tullet's "Press Here", this sequel delighted my grandson and produced expressions of delight as we read and turned the pages to discover what he had done.While "Press Here" was geared toward younger children of 2-years old and older, "Mix it Up!" seems to appeal to children who are a bit older and ready to comprehend the complexities of color creation. However, I would not hesitate to recommend this book for younger children. If you do not have "Press Here", I definitely recommend purchasing both books for your library or for that of a child you love.
