Zoya and her pup, Coco, are painting outside when the sky turns gray and rain starts to fall. Back indoors, Zoya tries to make the best of it, exploring the color gray and adding color to her room.
The Gray Day
Discuss the Book
Painting Trees. Pages 1–11
- Important Moment: On a sunny day, Zoya heads outside to paint what she sees. She adds glitter to her painting to sparkle like the sun through the leaves.
- Ask and Share: Why does Zoya add glitter? Would you like to make art outside like Zoya? What are your favorite things to do outside?
Here Comes the Rain. Pages 12–16
- Important Moment: When the rain hits Zoya’s painting, the colors blend and the glitter runs into the grass, making it sparkle.
- Ask and Share: What happens when rain lands on Zoya’s painting? Have you ever had an activity interrupted by rain? How did you feel about that? How do you think Zoya might feel?
Black + White = Gray. Pages 17–30
- Important Moment: Zoya doesn’t want to paint the gray of the gray day. When she remembers that gray is black and white together, she paints things that are black and white instead.
- Ask and Share: What does Zoya remember about the color gray? Would you want to paint with gray? Can you think of other colors that are a mix of two colors? (For example, purple is a mix of red and blue.)
Finding the Color. Pages 31–44
- Important Moment: Zoya wants to add color to her paintings, so she cuts leaves out of paper to glue on. She tries to cover the gray day by hanging her colorful painting on the window.
- Ask and Share: How does Zoya try to cover up the gray day in her room? Do you like her idea? What would you want to do about a gray day?