Black Book of Colors
The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria. Translated by Elisa Amado. There are a whole lot of picture books about colors. This one is different. You really need to touch it - but I’ll do my best to describe it. It’s all black, with white text. If you look, and then feel, you’ll notice that the text is in Braille on the top of the page, and printed on the bottom half. The pictures are black on black raised images, for feeling, not looking. It starts like this “Thomas says that yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as baby chick feathers.” Red is sour like unripe strawberries, and hurts when he skins his knees. The B-word is never mentioned, but this is a fabulous book for exploring the topic, as well as for just thinking about what colors mean. My only sad note is that Mr. FP only wanted to read it once - so maybe it’s better for kids a little older. Certainly every adult I’ve shown it too has been enthralled. We don’t get too many books from Venezuela here in the states - particularly not picture books. There’s a good reason this one did.