The Black Book of Colors

Attempting to convey the experience of blindness, this nonpicture book by a pair of Venezuelan artists reads triumphantly. White text appears on black pages, with braille above; on the facing page, also black, images suggested in the text are printed in raised black linesinviting the reader to discover them through touch alone. (Decoding the images this way, not incidentally, is difficult.) Thomas, the narrator begins, says that yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as a baby chicks feathers. Opposite, delicately drawn plumes float across the page. While the concept is arresting in itself, Thomass proclamations about color reveal him as a bold, engaging character. Red is sour; brown crunches; and green tastes like lemon ice cream. He has given careful thought to all the colors, but black is the king.... It is as soft as silk when his mother hugs him and her hair falls in his face. It would be a mistake to read the book as a message about how the other senses compensate for blindness; compensate doesnt do justice to all that Thomas offers about what he tastes and feels and hears and smells. Ages 510. "(June)" Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

K-Gr 5Tomas explains that although he cannot see with his eyes, he can experience colors with his other senses. He poetically describes each one by how its smells, feels, sounds, and tastes. The pages of this unique picture book are pitch black with white text and shiny, slick-textured, black-on-black raised-line drawings created by a special printing process called "spot uvi". A Braille translation is printed at the top of each page of text. Children will enjoy tracing their fingers over the illustrations of swirling hair, splashing water, and freshly cut blades of grass. The Braille alphabet, complete with Spanish characters, is printed on the last page. Include this book in a lesson about the senses, colors, understanding disabilities, or even a poetry unit about similes and metaphors. This unique title was originally published in Spanish, but is also available in English.-"Rebecca Hickman, Sherman Library at NSU, Fort Lauderdale, FL" Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.