Rainbow Brite and the Color Thieves
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| Author | Harry Coe Verr
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| Country | USA
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| Language | English
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| Publisher | Golden Books
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| Publish Date | 1984
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| Media Type | HB
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| ISBN | 0-307-16003-3
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Story
One spring day, Rainbow Brite, the fun-loving little girl who colors the world, and her helpers, the Color Kids, decided to inspect the colors on earth. They wanted to make sure everything was bright and shiny enough.
All around them were lush green fields, dotted with violet and yellow flowers.
Jolly red apples sparkled on the trees. Orange butterflies played tag with happy bluebirds.
"All's right with the world!" Rainbow Brite exclaimed, clapping her hands.
Rainbow and the Color Kids walked further. They stopped to pick some flowers.
Suddenly they felt a breeze.
The breeze quickly grew into a wind.
The wind grew into a noisy gale.
"Oh! There goes my hat!" squealed LaLa Orange.
"My pigtails are unbraiding!" called Patty O'Green.
"Help! There goes my warm-up suit!" Buddy Blue cried.
"Oh, no! My hair ribbon," whispered Shy Violet, snatching at the air.
Red Butler's red cape, lifted by the wind, twirled him around and then whirled off into the sky.
Canary Yellow's leg warmers disappeared in a blur.
Indigo's sandals blew off in a flash.
The fierce north wind began to blow even harder. All of the trees bowed over, and the bushes shook.
Then something very strange happened.
The wind began to blow the colors right off everything in sight.
All the tiger lilies lost their orange.
LaLa Orange watched in amazement as the orange blew away.
The frogs and their lily pads lost their green.
Tears came to Patty O'Green's eyes as she watched the green sail out of sight, pulled by the wind.
The blueberries and the bluebells lost their blue.
Buddy Blue tired to catch the blue as it sailed past him.
Shy Violet gasped as she watched the lilacs lose their color.
Red Butler watched in horror as all the raspberries lost their red.
Canary Yellow moaned as she watched the yellow leave the dandelions and buttercups.
The indigo jeans drying on the clothesline lost their color.
Indigo was heartbroken.
"Come on, gang, let's see where this terrible wind is coming from!" cried Rainbow Brite. "Follow me!"
Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids fought their way into the wind. They had to hold on to trees and houses and each other to keep from being blown away.
The wind got stronger and stronger and whirring noise got louder and louder.
At last they saw what was happening. A huge fan was sucking all the color from everything. And there behind the fan were those nasty, gloomy villains, Murky Dismal and his sidekick, Lurky.
"You bumbling oaf!" Murky was shouting. "You missed the red shutters on that house."
"Yes, boss," said Lurky, and he directed the fan at the red shutters. The color was snatched off immediately.
"Ha! Ha!" chuckled Murky. "Soon all the colors in the world will be gone. No more red roosters, no more brown cows, no more green peas, no more RAINBOWS!"
Rainbow Brite stood up tall. She knew just what to do. "I'll put a stop to this!" she said.
She touched her magic belt, and a rainbow of Star Sprinkles burst out at Murky and Lurky.
"No! No! This is too bright for me!" Murky yelled, covering his eyes.
"Me, too, boss," said Lurky.
"Let's get out of here!" Murky shouted, running for the Grunge Buggy.
Lurky leapt into the driver's seat. Murky hopped into the garbage can sidecar. "Drive, you idiot!" he screamed.
The Grunge Buggy began to spit and spew nasty smoke and fumes as the engine coughed and sputtered.
"We'll be back," Murky Dismal promised as the buggy roared away.
"We'll be back," Lurky's voice echoed.
"How do we stop the fan, Rainbow?" LaLa Orange asked.
"Look!" said Red Butler. "There's a sign next to that switch. It says 'START' and 'STOP'."
"Oh, you're so smart, Red," said LaLa.
"If we all push, maybe we can turn the fan off," said Rainbow.
Soon the fan's blades slowed down and then stopped. The wind slowly died down. Rainbow and the Color Kids could hear the birds chirping and the bees buzzing again. Everything returned to normal -- except most of the color was gone!
Rainbow Brite took charge. "All right, Kids, let's get to work," she cried. "We have to bring the color back so the world will be a happy place again."
"Hooray!" cheered the Color Kids.
"LaLa, let's start with you," said Rainbow.
LaLa Orange and Rainbow Brite poured orange Star Sprinkles over all the tiger lilies. In an instant, they were bright orange again.
"Now Patty, let's do the green," said Rainbow.
"Oh, boy," said Patty O'Green. She and Rainbow Brite poured green Star Sprinkles over all the frogs and all the lily pads, and soon they were sparkling green again.
Rainbow and Buddy Blue made the blueberries and bluebells blue again.
Soon the lilacs were their own perfect color.
The raspberries were juicy red again.
The buttercups and dandelions glistened yellow.
The indigo jeans were indigo again.
"Now we can go home!" Rainbow Brite exclaimed to the Color Kids. "The world has its color back!"
Rainbow Brite called for Starlite, her magical flying horse, and he instantly swooped down from the sky. Rainbow jumped on Starlite's back, and they all flew home to Rainbow Land.
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