The
Colors of Us is a book written and illustrated by Karen Katz and
first published in 1999. The protagonist of the book, little Lena,
wants to paint a picture of herself. Her mother tries to teach her
that there are many different shades of the same color, but Lena
stubbornly insists that "brown is brown". As Lena walks
through town with her mother, she realizes that different people do
indeed have different tones of skin. She starts relating the colors
of people to the colors of objects
and foods. She realizes that diversity is a beautiful thing , which
makes the world more interesting and colorful. In the end of the
book, the girl tries to recall all the colors she has seen and paint
them. She calls them "The colors of us". By helping
children to acknowledge the difference in skin color as something
normal and positive, and realize that society is comprised of people
of different racial backgrounds, the book encourages them to develop
attitudes of tolerance and respect towards diversity.
I
would classify this book as multicultural realistic fiction.
Although the characters and the events that take place in the book
are
fictional, they are plausible and could certainly take place in
the
real world. It is multi-cultural literature, because it focuses on
people of color and on the theme of racial diversity. The
illustrations of the book are very colorful and vibrant, and the
variety of
coloring that Katz uses, perfectly complements the
central theme of the book.
Katz does a good job at depicting the
subtle differences between
color shades.
This
book could trigger interesting conversations in the classroom on the
subject of racial tolerance, as well as a discussion about different
cultures. I could show the students slides of people from different
racial backgrounds and pose the following questions:
a)What
color is their skin? What object or food does it remind you
of?
b)Where
do people with lighter skin come from? Where do people
with darker
skin come from?
c)What
do you know about these continents and countries?
d)Does
a person's skin say something about their character?
As
a motivational activity I could ask the students to write a
short
paragraph describing their family and friends' skin colors, in
terms of objects and foods, like Lena does in the story.This would
aim at
showing that each person looks different, even people
belonging to
the same race, and that there is absolutely nothing
wrong with such
a state of things.
Another motivational
activity I could incorporate, would be to
encourage children to bring
their coloring palettes, to mix up
colors and observe the difference
in hues. I would then ask them
to paint some familiar faces with
these colors.
These
activities, like the book's message, are aligned with Saint
Leo's
Core Value of Respect. Saint
Leo values all individuals’
unique talents and respects their dignity. The community’s
strength depends
on the unity and diversity of its people, on the
free exchange of
ideas, and on learning, living,
and working
harmoniously. Likewise, Katz's book teaches young
readers
how to acknowledge
and embrace diversity, following the
example of young Lena, who
realizes that all the different-
looking
people belong to a common community comprised
of "the colours
of us".
"The Colours of Us"
is an excellent book, because it touches upon a
very serious
matter in a very engaging, playful way. Therefore, it
can get its
message across without alienating young readers.
Karen Katz is an
illustrator and designer , who has published a
number of picture
books for young children. The Colors of Us was
actually written as a
tribute to her young daughter. Other works
by the same author
include:
- Over the Moon (1997)
- Counting Kisses (2001)
- My First Kwanzaa (2003)
References
Katz, Karen(2002). The Colours of Us. Square Fish.
Galda,
C. &. (2011). Literature
and the Child Seventh Edition .
Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing .
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