Library Intern Book Reviews
Review of The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faría
Publisher
Groundwood Books
City
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date of Publication
2008
ISBN
9780888998736
Date of Review
2012
Disciplines
Library and Information Science | Modern Literature
Keywords
Children's literature, reviews
Recommended Citation
Aho, Michael, "Review of The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faría" (2012). Library Intern Book Reviews. 65.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/intern_book_reviews/65
Review
This book was a unique and beautiful piece of young literature. The book is written in an attempt to describe colors to those who cannot see and also to explain what it’s like to “see” through the eyes of a blind person. The narrative is told from the view of a blind boy who describes what he thinks different colors are. While it’s written in both braille and text, the illustrations are all meant to be felt, not seen. The book is completely black with illustrations that are raised on the pages; this way, the reader can feel them instead of see them. Also, the text describes different colors through other senses such as taste and feel. For example, the book describes blue is the color of the sky when kites are flying and the sun is beating hot on his head. The illustration is a kite, but it was only by angling the page so that the light hit it that I could tell. The book has an exquisite beauty in that it serves as a link between those who see and those who don’t. Both groups experience the world of the other by reading it. Overall, the book was a great piece of artistic literature for communicating well with such a diverse audience. Highly Recommended. Reviewed by Michael Aho, Library Intern, Cedarville University, Cedarville, Ohio