The Color of Home book review by Kuba

Title of the Book: The Color of Home 

Author Name: Mary Hoffman 

Reviewer's Name: Kuba

Publisher: Penguin Books

Date of Publication: 2002 

 Rating: 1-5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The book The Color of Home, this remarkably moving picture book follows first-grader Hassan through his first few days at school. Hassan has only recently arrived in the United States after he and his family were forced to flee, and he deeply misses the colorful landscape of his former home in Africa. The goal of this piece is to promote immigration, a sense of belonging, creativity, and resilience, which is all extremely important in today's society, and to truly be an IB Learner. The fact is that everyone, no matter how different we are, should be accepted and treated equally, even if we come from different places and backgrounds. We as IB students have certain requirements that should be followed. These things set us apart from everyone else and make us special, in comparison to others who don’t care about solving these issues that we are faced with each day. 

This text is very well written, it introduces the world's problems in a way that helps children understand. But would you really want to show children that they exist so young? Some would have a difficult time understanding that the real world has problems it could affect them in lots of different ways. But mostly the book has an overall simple way that explains such complex problems, but I also love it because it is a nice way to say things, without overloading a person with negative emotions, and instead is said in a way that slowly pushes the information towards the children. This style of writing is also a very safe way to prove that children can handle this information. I’m also very curious about how children deal with this, because it’s designed for them but the topic isn’t very helpful or relevant in a children's life. Which is another vital factor in children's books.