"A year ago I began to notice that my sight was slipping away. I sat at home alone and felt the darkness settle around me. But today I walked outside into the thin gray rain and made my way to the subway. I have a journey to go on. There are some things I need to find."
Without sight the young girl in this story uses her other senses and her wonderful imagination to create images in her mind as she journeys through the subway. She takes care on the stairs as slowly as an elephant. She can feel the crunch of the autumn leaves. If she could climb the tree she would be able to pick a sweet red apple. The next station feels so vast - perhaps it is like stepping into the ocean. She imagines hearing the singing of the dolphins. Outside she cannot see the sky, but we see the scene - she imagines of a beach which is actually on top of a huge blue whale. The girl is stretched out in the sun in her swimmers with her hat and dog. And so her journey continues moving from one spectactular scene to another.
"Now it listen for the sound of the colours I can't see. I try to smell the shapes, taste the light and dark. And I hope to find a friend who will read me a poem while the window fills up with sunset."
This quote touched my heart. My mother and two aunts had macula degeneration and so their vision was greatly impaired. I worry about losing my eyesight because this condition can be hereditary but if that happens it would be so special if someone could read me this book and take me on a journey like this one.
Take a look at this detailed description of The sound of colours.
Read more about Jimmy Liao here.
Blurb from author page: Follow the blind little girl to hear the sounds of colors together, and see how colors make sound. From one stop to another, visit the city corner, the breezy treetops, the entrance to the underground, and the exit to the sky anew.
The Sound of Colours has been translated into Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chines, Japanese, English Spanish, Thai, French, Dutch, Polish, Russia,n Vietnamese, Italian, German, Portuguese and Korean
I mentioned Taiwanese artist Jimmy Liao and this book in a previous post and then to my absolute delight the Teacher-Librarian from the library where I spend fantastic days as a volunteer read my blog post and when I arrived she had this book ready for me to borrow! That is truly the best library service! The Sound of Colours was published in English in 2006. This is another example of why libraries are SO IMPORTANT. The Sound of Colours is long out of print but your local or school library may have a copy - I did have this book in my own former school library (hopefully they still have it).
Another companion book:
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