Thanks to Michal Hoschander Malen and the Association of Jewish libraries for a great review of CC!
“Author/illustrator Ann Koffsky presents each of the first seven days as a day of color, created by
God to fill the world with visual delight. Day One, biblically designated as the day of the creation
of light and its separation from darkness, is shown here as an all black-and-white world. The divine
separation of darkness and light paves the way for a world-to-come filled with color. Day Two, the
day of the formation of the oceans and sky, is filled with shaded blues separating into wave-like and
cloud-like shapes. For Day Three, the birth of trees and plants is suggested by multiple shades of green
which evolve into leafy structures. Each day presents a new color that inhabits the world in its own
magnificent way. The creation of human beings is the most colorful day of all, subtly and beautifully
emphasizing that people come in many colors. And on the Seventh Day, when God finally rests, the
world, in all its complexity, is a bursting tapestry of color and light.
The text is spare and effective, and the illustrations are spectacular. The artwork started as wall
panels (currently hanging in the synagogue space of a Jewish day school). Koffsky “created papercuts,
which she laid on top of painted acrylic painted canvases. This allows for the vivid textured paint
to show through the papercuts, making for a juxtaposition between the precise lines of the cuts, and
the rough strokes on the canvas.” It is a book about Creation in the traditional sense as it follows the
biblical narrative, but it is also a unique and refreshing angle on a story which has been told and retold.
It imbues the familiar tale with new excitement and life.”
–Michal Hoschander Malen, Retired librarian, North Shore Hebrew Academy lower and middle schools;
Children and YA editor, Jewish Book Council