Elspeth Lorraine

One of the best parts of working in the KidLit space is seeing the writers in your community thrive. Valerie is one of those people. I first heard of her work a few years back when she taught a class on “Building Tension in Picture Books” and I remember thinking how smart and engaging she was. When she reached out to let me know about her latest book, I SEE COLOR we got to chatting and I found out she is a professional Auntie like myself. So of course I had to share her work here. Aunties unite!

I SEE COLOR is a nonfiction picture book that engages children using history, activism, and the beauty of the colors we see/are. Readers are introduced to both well known and lesser known people throughout history who fought, protested, and educated society on the importance of equality and diversity. One of the key messages is that often people say, “I don’t see color” in an effort to express their idea of equality, but we are all products of our histories and cultures. And the expression, “I don’t see color” doesn’t take these things into account. Valerie and Kailei do such a beautiful job writing about the colors we see. A sample of my favorite sentence: “I see GLEAMING STARDUST, defending precious Native land and preserving a sacred heritage.” to describe Madonna Thunder Hawk. Isn’t that lovely? 

Bits and Pieces: Laylie used Procreate on a 2020 iPad Pro to create the digital illustrations for this book. The back matter is excellent! There are short biographies of the people mentioned in the book, and the author’s notes in particular are crucial in understanding their perspectives on why this book needed to be created. 

Not Sure About: No complaints here, the best part of this book is it’s perfect for the classroom or home. 

Favorite Part(s): One of my favorite illustrations is from the title page. There are two young girls of different races hugging and Laylie did a beautiful job expressing the abandon and excitement they feel just being together. All in all this is the perfect book to open up discussions about race, but also to foster appreciation for the beauty in seeing color.