The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman illustrated by Karin Littlewood

Hassan joins a new class. Hassan has come from Somalia. Hassan's new classroom is in England. Everything is difficult, confusing, and very strange:

"In his real home he had lessons out of doors from early in the morning until the sun got too hot at midday. Here he had to stay indoors except in the middle of the day, when he shivered outside in the damp playground."

"... he didn't understand anything that anyone said - only his name and 'hello' and toilet'."

"After lunch, which Hassan didn't eat, because he didn't know what it was, Miss Kelly gave the children big sheets of gritty grey paper ... she gave Hassan paintbrushes and a pot a water and showed him where all the colour were."

Hassan paints the colours of his home. It begins as a beautiful picture of his white house, extended family, farm animals, his precious cat and mimosa trees in the sunshine but then Hassan adds terrible details of guns and violence and death.  His teacher knows Hassan needs to talk about what he has experienced back in Somalia so she arranges for a translator. The next day Hassan explains his painting describing the "noise, the flames, the bullets and the awful smell of burning and blood."

On the first day when his mother and little sister picked him up from school Hassan says he has no painting to take home but on the second day he is able to paint again and this art takes pride of place in their English flat which had looked drab. The new painting is a happy one with bright colours showing his home in Somalia in happy times.  Looking around the room Hassan sees new hope through the colours - the maroon prayer mat, the green cushions, an orange table cloth, a pink dress for his sister and sunshine in the blue sky outside.

Reading this book is a profound emotional experience.  I have read this book over fifty times aloud and I cry every time. In UK schools this book is listed for the youngest students but I save it for our senior class of children aged 11+.  I don't often ask classes to vote for a favourite book but when I did this in the past - The Colour of Home often came out the winner. I was so happy in 2012 to meet Mary Hoffman in London. I told her how much I love to read this book to students in a suburban Australian primary school. Here is a set of questions used by a UK school with a Grade 2 class.

I was reading a book illustrated by Karin Littlewood this week and I remembered she illustrated one of my favourite books to read to our senior students - The Colour of Home. It seems I have not talked about this brilliant book here so today I decided to share this very important and beautifully told story with you.

A picture is worth a thousand words and, in this case, helps a young immigrant Somali boy make the transition into his new culture. Kirkus