Pistes d'exploration

Discuss how blind people read using Braille and how they rely on their other senses.

Discuss how colours often represent feelings: red = danger, blue = calmness or sadness, green = envy, etc. Why do you think this is so?

Write your own description of colour. Use powerful adjectives to describe the colours. 

Discuss the choices of objects to represent the colours. On a class chart, list representative objects that you might choose for each colour.

Discuss how colours often represent feelings: red = danger, blue = calmness or sadness, green = envy, etc. Why do you think this is so?

Discuss and research how blind people read using Braille, and how they rely on their other senses.

Write your own descriptions of colours. Use the book as a model, ideas from the chart and powerful adjectives to create your own book of colours. 

Lemons Are Not Red, My Blue Is Happy, Pomelo Explores Color

Mots-clés

Picture book , braille , colours , figurative language , interesting illustrations , senses , textured books

Commentaire descriptif

This book about colour stands out: From cover to thick, shiny interior pages, it is entirely black. Right from the start, young sighted readers will know they are in for a different kind of discussion about colour. This ingenious approach asks children to rediscover their own sense of touch, while bringing some concept of what it might mean to be blind. Text in Braille, and a full Braille alphabet at the back, demonstrate just how developed that sense must be for blind readers. Embossed illustrations must be deciphered by little fingers. The story (written for the sighted in white print) is elegant and engaging, describing Thomas and his special relationship to colour: “Thomas says that yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as a baby chick’s feathers.” These imaginative and poetic structures may also inspire advanced readers to develop their own descriptions of colours, scents, sounds and tastes, using terms usually applied to other senses. The language cycles through a variety of colours—including rainbow and colourless water—finishing on black, “the king of all the colors.” This book is an excellent addition to any library about colour.