Let’s Talk Books! – How Color can Impact a Book

Color is usually talked about in visual storytelling, like movies and plays. But can it play a role in books? I think that the answer is yes. But how? Can colors impact what people imagine, similar to how they affect what people see on a screen? Let’s take a look and imagine.

Color in Visual Art

Colors in visual art have been used for centuries. Dating as far back as art itself, people have been making colors from all kinds of things, including bugs. People paint with colors, they draw with colors, and some of the most famous pieces of art are filled with so many colors most of us would have a hard time counting them! Take the Sistine Chapel, for example! The Sistine Chapel was painted in the 1500s by a man named Michelangelo. His paintings are some of the most famous on the planet and include a vast collection of colors! The paintings in the Sistine Chapel were based on things Michelangelo read in the bible! So, his imagination was probably quite full of colors!

Color in the Imagination

Books are a unique combination of visual art and imagination. The words on the page mean something that most people understand. For those who can see color, the color on books and described in books seems to play a big part in how the story unfolds in someone’s imagination (like how Michelangelo saw some of the bible’s stories), making reading a little bit more visual (not counting the actual reading part). For some people, the colors and actions they read about on the page are so vivid in their imagination that it is almost like watching a movie in their head! So, what can colors do for people reading books?

Colors in Books

Colors are often associated with different things. Depending on the culture and the artist’s background, some colors are associated with certain feelings and ideals. In many cultures, green is associated with life and abundance, while it can also represent jealousy! Red can represent love and romance, but it can also represent death! Some cultures see blue as the crowning color of royalty, while others prefer yellow or purple!

Psychology Today says that “Warm colors, such as yellow, orange, pink, and red can motivate and energize us. However, if they’re too intense, they can also be irritating. Cool colors, such as green, blue, and violet, can have a calming effect on us” (resource 1). As a result, authors often use color to help tell their stories. They include specific colors on their covers to help elicit a particular feeling from people when they look at the book. Some authors clothe certain characters in specific colors to help readers see or guess what their true role is, a kind of color foreshadowing. Still others use color to help show emotion, such as explaining how someone’s face turned white or red. In short, color is extremely helpful in written literature and helps the reader not only imagine what the book’s world looks like but also how it feels to be there and how the characters within the world feel as well.

In short, colors are instrumental in writing and seem to have a significant impact on the stories contained in books! Authors regularly use colors in their writing and may even use them to hint at big giveaways later in the story! So, next time you read a book, make sure you pay close attention to the colors!

Reference

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-my-brain-works/202301/how-colors-affect-brain-functioning#:~:text=Color%20is%20an%20important%20stimulus%20for%20the%20brain,is%20sensitive%20to%20color%20stimulation%20%28Gruson%2C%20L.%201982%29.

Children’s Book of the Month – Put Me in the Zoo

When I was a little girl, I imagined all kinds of fun adventures, and they all had one thing in common. Animals. I imagined being one, I wanted to live with them, and I wanted to speak their language. I think this love of animals is why Put Me in the Zoo was so close to my heart at a young age. This little story about two children who find an unusual animal that doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere but just wants to be in a zoo is a sweet story about discovering purpose when we don’t think we have a place. Let’s take a look at what this book entails.

Book Details

Book Title: Put Me in the Zoo

Author: Robert Lopshire

Illustrator: Unknown

Theme: Finding where you fit in.

Plot: A brother and sister find an unusual animal who wants to live in the Zoo, but the Zoo won’t let him in. So, they help him find a different home where he will fit in.

Page Count: 58 pages

My Review

This book used to be one of my favorites simply because of the animal as the main character. But there are other great things about the story. This book can show children how helping others is fun and rewarding! This book also includes examples of creative thinking as the children in the story try to find places to take their new friend. But my favorite thing about this book is the message of finding a place for each person based on their talents. Different people have different skills, and there is a place for each person, even if it takes some hard work and creative thinking to get them there! The only thing I don’t like about this book is that, in the end, the animal is placed in a circus. Back when this book was written (1960), circuses were not a great place for animals. Thankfully, these days, many places have outlawed them or have begun putting on circus performances that do not feature animals. Overall, I give this book 4 stars. But let's see what Alyssa and Chandler thought!

Family Review

Alyssa and her daughter Chandler read Put Me in the Zoo and gave it the highest rating available (five stars from Alyssa and five hearts from Chandler)! Alyssa said, "the fun pics and simple yet interesting story" was her favorite thing about the book. When asked about her favorite part, Chandler said, "It was cool that the spots could get off him and change colors and put them on the kids! And I liked the circus!" Chandler also added that she wants to share this book with people, saying, "I want to tell other kids that they will like it!"

Kate and Josiah also read Put Me in the Zoo and gave it the highest rating available (five stars from Kate and five hearts from Josiah)! When asked about her favorite thing about the book, Kate said, "I appreciated the fun rhymes and the silly dog (?)!" Josiah said that his favorite part of the book was when "The girl and the boy and the yellow dog were in the biggest red puddle with a bunch of red circles and they were in a great huge one."

Let’s Talk Books! – Books for The Halloween Recluse

I don’t know about you, but I am not a fan of Halloween, for many reasons. When Halloween comes around, I am on the lookout for things to do in my den of solitude that I retreat into while all the doorbells in town are ringing off the hook. Aside from popping my head up for food and the occasional glance at the cutest Darth Vader and the most creative costumes, I grab a wide variety of entertainment and hunker down for my own night of fun. But what do I do? Well, one thing I love, aside from a good movie, is a great book! So today, in case you also consider yourself a Halloween recluse, I will share a list of books that might help you get through the holiday of noisy doorbells and unnecessarily creepy yard decorations.

Mysteries

The classics, of course, are Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, and Agatha Christie novels. As you might have guessed, I don’t like creepy things and creepy stories, so I avoid the creepy Agatha Christie books. But a good mystery is always a great option.

Spy and Political Thrillers

I love a good spy novel. As I have mentioned in previous posts, my personal favorites are the Vince Flynn series about Mitch Rapp. Due to the subject matter of these spy novels, some trigger elements might exist for some people, so please be aware of that. However, the authors do a pretty good job of keeping these books on the cleaner side without losing the element of reality that makes spy novels so good. The more recent books are a little lighter in the subject matter (dealing with more technology-based threats), but it’s a great series that I love to re-read.

Star Wars

As you may know, I love Star Wars. I don’t have much to say about this except that pretty much any Star Wars novel will do the trick for a night of constant entertainment. I like to get cozy and warm before I start a good Star Wars novel, so make sure you have a big, comfy sweatshirt and a blanket. My top Star Wars books are any with Han Solo or Thrawn, and there are a lot. So, I won’t even begin to narrow that down because the more, the merrier, I think.

Non-Fiction

I don’t know if other people find non-fiction entertaining. I don’t usually like non-fiction unless it is a science or animal training book. I love a good book full of experiments and scientific information. Biology and biopsychology are super fascinating, along with books on writing books! I recently discovered books on writing books, and I am quite enjoying all the books about words. I am a bit weird, but I also used to love reading my dad’s old encyclopedias from the 50s (back then, did you know the deepest part of the ocean was 22,787 feet, just under four miles deep! Now that information has changed, The Marianan trench is over 30,000 feet! There’s your random fact for today. I hope you enjoyed it!). I don’t have encyclopedias now, so I enjoy browsing the internet and searching for new words. If you have room in your kitchen, there are also some great books out there on science experiments that you can do at home! I can’t remember the title of my favorite one from my childhood, but there is a huge collection of them on Amazon!

Even if the end of October is not your favorite holiday season, I hope you can find some great books to read, and I hope you enjoy a night of fun entertainment with a good book and possibly some yummy snacks. Have fun and stay safe! And make sure you like this post and leave a comment! Do you prefer to stay cozied up with a book rather than collecting candy?