The sound of colours by Jimmy Liao

"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.

Home is the place where everything I've lost is waiting patiently for me to find my way back.

Companion books:

The Seeing Stick

The Black Book of Colours

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:

The Sound of Silence

Taking time by Jo Loring-Fisher

Do you take your time to look, listen, feel, smell, touch our world?

Taking time to listen to a bird's song on the breeze.

Taking time to gather up the blossom dancing free.

Taking time to snuggle in my dog's soft velvet fur.

Taking time to feel the beat of my cat's rhythmic purr.

This text is one your students could easily use as writing inspiration and also for a discussion about mindfulness, time, and precious life experiences. At a really simple level you could also use this book as part of a mapping topic with a young class. 

Sadly, here in Australia, this book Taking Time is very expensive, but you might be lucky and find a copy in a library. 

Here is an interview with the author and you can see some drafts of her illustrations. And here is her own webpage. You can see Jo with her book here. 

A must-have for anyone sharing books with young children—simply exquisite. Kirkus Star review

This is simply exquisite. In eleven different parts of the world, children savour the moment: on each double spread there is a gorgeous, mixed media scene showing a young boy or girl in an everyday setting relishing the beauty of the surroundings. Red Reading Hub

I mentioned this book in a previous post when I was talking about Timeless by Kelly Canby.  Taking time would be an excellent book to use as a comparison text especially with a group of older students.

Take a look at my previous post about another book by Jo Loring-Fisher - Wolf Girl. 

The Snowman's wish by Sophie Masson illustrated by Ronak Taher

Please begin with my post about Sonam and the Silence. I really want Sonam and the Silence (2019) book to be shared with ALL children. I was desperately upset when it was not selected by our CBCA as a Notable or short listed book. It is a truly special book and the reason I mention it here is that it is also illustrated by Ronak Taher.  She is a talented illustrator who was born in Iran and now lives in Melbourne.

Now we can turn our attention to The Snowman's Wish. Sophie Masson explores the seasons and senses in her lyrical text.

The story begins in Winter: "he loved what he saw"
Winter continues:  and he "loved what he heard"
Spring starts: and he "loved what he felt"
Early summer: and flowers burst forth and he "loved what he smelled"

"How I wish I could stay"

But this is a snowman, made from snow, and so eventually he melts away. This is sad of course but the snowman leaves a beautiful memory gift for the children just as he promised.

As a teacher using this book with a class here are some things to notice and discuss:

End papers - they are brilliant. Winter at the beginning with ice covered leaves and Summer at the end where we see the page filled with bright orange and red flowers.

Title - Notice the font, the use of capital letters, the apostrophe, the children using a ladder to 'dress' the huge snowman.

Snowman - where might the story be set? Have you built a snowman? Can you describe the process? What are some problems with building a snowman? Is this a Christmas book? Why or why not? Did you notice the words "sleigh bells"?

Northern hemisphere - look for the animal and plant references in the illustrations. Think about the colour palette. Sophie Masson is an Australian author. You could write some questions to ask her about the setting for The Snowman's Wish.

Themes - seasons, nature, outdoor play, snow, loss, hope, gifts, promises.  Sophie Masson also says her book explores "the notion of death". Do you agree? Would the words 'circle of life' be a better description? 

Here is an in-depth and highly thoughtful review recorded by Ursula Dubosarsky.

Now go back and explore the lyrical text:
"White ground with black shadows under a silky starry sky."
"days lengthened, shadows slipped away."
"earth waking to warmth"

Take a look here - Ronak shares some of the collage illustrations from her book.

You could pair this book with these:

If you want to explore collage and snowmen try to find this beautiful book:

Happy by Nicola Edwards illustrated by Katie Hickey

Happy is a children's book of mindfulness.  Each page contains a topic, a rhyme and a suggestion or question accompanied with joyous and colourful illustrations. While I do like the text of this book - the rhyming parts, I especially love the illustrations.

Topics: Listening, Feeling, Relaxing, Tasting, Touching, Discovering, Smelling, Loving, Appreciating, Breathing, Happiness

Rhyming text - here are two examples of pages I liked:

Touching
Touch calms the wildest emotions,
We connect to the world all around,
When we dip out toes into the ocean
Or crunch crisp golden leaves on the ground.

Appreciating
It feels good to give thanks at the day's end
For the pink blushing sky overhead,
A hot meal, comfy shoes or a good friend,
And the warmth of a soft cosy bed.

A fine resource for sharing moments of mindfulness, empathy, and reflection with young children. Kirkus

In a society full of stress and pressure it’s often difficult to find time to stop and appreciate our surroundings and the people in our lives. Screen time is increasing, outside play is decreasing and many children now have anxiety and mental health problems. Teaching them mindfulness can help them to slow down, relax and find ways to cope with stress. Story Snug

Here are some additional Mindfulness books to explore from Megan Daley.

I talked about another book by Nicola Edwards here recently - Goodnight World.

I love the illustration style in this book so I have added a Christmas book illustrated by Katie Hickey to my ever expanding shopping list.

Here is a Christmas Lighthouse illustrated by Katie Hickey for an art challenge in 2017.

I am also very keen to see this book by Nicola Edwards:

The Black Book of Colours by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria

Tuesday Treasure

The Black Book of Colours was first published in 2006 under the Spanish title El Libro Negro de los colores. Good news this important book is still in print.

Thomas is blind but he can still talk about colour.  He tells us about his personal understanding and experiences of colour all depicted in black relief illustrations with a text also presented in braille.

Every school library and every public library should contain a copy of this unique, important and truly special book.

Yellow tastes like mustard
Red is sour like unripe strawberries and sweet as watermelon
Brown crunches under his feet like autumn leaves
Green tastes like lemon ice cream and smells like grass that has just been cut
But black is the king of all colour. It is soft as silk ...

Image source Brain Pickings

Fascinating, challenging and lovely.  Kirkus Star Review

A truly unique and moving story, The Black Book of Colours is a must-read for any child and parent. Kids' Book Review

Bear and Wolf by Daniel Salmieri

A young bear meets a young wolf in the winter forest. There is no suspicion, no aggression, no predator and prey - just a special meeting of two wild creatures and the forming of a new friendship.

The language in this book is utterly exquisite:

"When Bear got closer, she could see it was a young wolf.
She could see the wolf's pointy snout, smooth gray fur, golden eyes, and wet black nose.
When Wolf got closer, he could see it was a young bear.
He could see the bear's big round head, soft black fur, deep brown eyes, and wet black nose."

"Bear and Wolf smelled the wet bark of the trees and heard the small sounds the snowflakes made on their fur."

Our new friends pause to enjoy the way the snowflakes are all different, the look up and see a beautiful owl watching them and then they cross an ice lake and scrape away the snow so they can see the sleeping fish suspended below the frozen surface.

After watching the fish the pair now need to part company. Bear needs to hibernate and Wolf needs to rejoin his pack and continue the hunt.

Seasons come and go. In summer grass and leaves grow and birds return to the forest. One day our two friends meet again and they continue their walk.  "Bear and Wolf walked through the gentle breeze, using their eyes, and ears, and noses to take in the awakening woods."

When I picked up this book I flipped through a few pages and saw the beautiful pencil illustrations. You can see the fish illustration above. The illustrator has made some illustrations look like images from a colouring book. I just wanted to stroke them and feel the pencil textures.

Here is a blog post from Seven Impossible Things where you can see more of the art from this book and view a video where Daniel Salmieri talks about his book. Kirkus gave this book a star review.

His text is wonderful, but it's truly those silent moments between the bear and the wolf––when Bear and Wolf are staring at fish together, or when the two first meet––that carry most of the emotional weight of the story. Despite the dark skies and the dark fur coats, the colors are light and playful, wistfully carrying readers from page to page with horizontal line work and the forward motion of the animals themselves, who travel from left to right.  Let's talk Picture Books

Without a whiff of didacticism, Salmieri shows readers how to appreciate beauty, invite friendship, express gratitude, let go, and walk in the world. School Library Journal

I would pair this book with The Lion and the Bird.  Other reviewers have also mentioned Big Wolf and Little Wolf.

Norris - The bear who Shared by Catherine Rayner

Image source https://tinyurl.com/y7h9s9jz

Several years ago I visited the main public library in Edinburgh and saw their newly refurbished children's library where I spied the beautiful art work of Catherine Rayner. Ever since I have kept an eye open for her books and art.

This week I found Norris - The bear who Shared.  This is one of those perfect picture books.  Important topics (sharing and kindness) handled gently (feels like a fable), beautiful illustrations and a poetic text.

Norris was wise.

And being a wise bear,

Norris knew that plorringes

were the best fruit of all.

Don't you love the idea of plorringes.  I adore "invented" words. One of my all time favourite books Hairy Tales and Nursery Crimes by Michael Rosen contains invented words I use every day such as orange wash (orange juice), chocolate kick (chocolate cake), you can eat a sandwitch and put something in your sneezer (freezer). I often tell the children I live in our 'li-berry'.

Back to that plorringe. It is also seen by Tulip (a curious raccoon) and Violet (a tiny mouse).

They clambered closer to the plorringe

and gazed at it.

It looked delicious ...

It smelt of honey and sunny days. ...

It felt as soft as candy floss.

The ripe plorringe is due to fall from the tree and Norris is patiently waiting below. When it falls it bops him on the head WHOMP and now Norris can enjoy his treat but what of Tulip and Violet?

Take a look here at all the books by Catherine Rayner.  This reviewer gives more details about the language in Norris - the bear who Shared and links her comments with the illustrations.