Book 26: The Black Book of Colors

The Black Book of Colors

The Black Book of Colors

by Menena Cottin, illustrated by Rosana Faria

Is the cover of The Black Book of Colors difficult to see?  It is supposed to be, and inside the pages almost all black.  The type face is so gray it is difficult to see, and is also presented in Braille.  The pages are shiny in places, though, and it makes a reader wonder what is going on.  This book is intended to demonstrate to sighted children how difficult it is to be blind.  The online reviews of this book say it is difficult for blind children to read, and they say the Braille is a difficult version.  However, this book isn’t intended for blind children.  It is intended to help the sighted realize how difficult it is for the blind to understand different colors.  On each page opposite a color word sentence is a raised illustration meant to be touched to be understood.  I volunteer with a blind person and am going to see what she thinks of this book.

A very similar story for children that could also be read is KNOTS ON A COUNTING ROPE by Bill Martin and John Archembault.   KNOTS ON A COUNTING ROPE is a Native American story about a blind boy who is able to ride horses.  The boy asks, “What is blue?” Both stories could help children understand more about blindness and how colors can be felt.  

The Black Book of Colors would provide a glue project children might enjoy.  I have made a free PDF set of work pages with a single color word and illustration.  Children could draw with glue over the drawing (thin ribbons of glue so the pictures could be touched when dry).  Can children guess which picture is which in the dark?  This would be fun for some classes. Students should glue around the edges of the pictures and not fill them in, of course.  The lights would have to turned off or the picture could be covered with another piece of paper.   Glue art project for color words PDF, free

Photo from Wikipedia

Braille Alphabet (view online)

Thank you for reading,