Book Review: The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin

Book: The Black Book of Colors
Author: Menena Cottin
Illustrator: Rosana Faria
Translator: Elisa Amado

How do you describe color to somebody who will never see it? Every word that comes to mind seems to be related to sight. But how about:

Yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as a baby chick's feathers.

Yellow.

In simple, nature-based similies, Menena Cottin translates colors into a sightless world, and illustrator Rosana Faria matches it with embossed, black-on-black pictures that can be felt with the fingertips. Also included is the text in Braille and a Braille alphabet in the back of the book, giving kids their first hint of what it's like to read if you're blind.

After reading this book, I went around to most of the staff at my library, insisting that they read it too. Most of the reactions were, "Wow." The rest were, "Wooowwwwwwwww." Whether blind or sighted, this book will make you think about the world in a different way.