The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin, illustrated by Rosana Faria.

This is a remarkable book.  One that offers insight into what it’s like to be blind.  It is a book about colors that contains only the color black.  Each color has a separate page with glossy raised pictures that are meant to be touched, not seen.  White text accompanies these images, describing what you are touching. 

Here’s an example of the text from the "green" page:

He says that green tastes like lemon ice cream and smells like grass that’s just been cut. 

Lovely, isn’t it?  Each page is like that, offering different ways to sense color and experience it. 

I applaud Faria, the illustrator, for not only taking on a colorless project, but creating images that when touched as just as evocative as when seen.  When we finished reading this book, my sons started trying to read the braille alphabet and traded back and forth going over the dark images again and again.  There is something wondrous in this book.

Highly recommended for art classes, diversity units, and just for the amazement of the book itself.  Sure to start discussions and interest, this could be nicely paired with Helen Keller’s biography.  Appropriate for a wide range of ages because of the fascination inherent in the book.  This could be used with even middle school students successfully.