A beautiful book about dealing with the anxiety of a new school and a new environment. Loved it.
I also loved that it’s a bilingual book, making it a wonderful read for both Spanish and English-speaking kids. But what I loved the most is that this book highlights the importance of visual communication amongst kids.
It tells us – where word fails, a picture speaks. And a picture can speak louder than words!
Anybody who is a regular reader of this blog knows how much I believe in the power of expression through arts and visual storytelling for kids. I love that this story indirectly ends up communicating the same.
Getting back to school after vacation is never easy for little ones. To add to that, if the school is in a new city or country, it gets all the more difficult. The fear, the anxiety, the nervousness – ask any immigrant child about their first day in a new school, and you will get the answer. I had faced it first hand as a parent when we had relocated to a new country with no family and friends around. I remember how much we had to prepare our son mentally.
And the relief when he had come back from the school happy and charged up. His excitement about making new friends there and more importantly when he realized the language was not a barrier to communicate with his teachers and classmates. His confidence when he felt welcome and included. Oh, that joy on his face 🙂
This book somehow reminded me of that day. Even though my son is 9 now and has almost crossed the stage of reading picture books, but I still made him read this one.
Isabel the central character of the book has just moved to a new school in a new country. English, with its blustery blues and whites, just feels wrong to Isabel. She prefers the warm oranges and pinks of Spanish. Her first day in a new school is uncomfortable until she discovers there’s more than one way to communicate with friends.
She is good at drawing and what she couldn’t communicate with words, she could do it with her colors and drawing.
As a child, I used to express myself better with colors and crayons than with words. Later pen accompanied my color palette and till today I express better through writing or painting than speaking.
Somewhere Isabel felt so real to me, and so relatable :).
Written by Alexandra Alessandri and illustrated by Courtney Dawson, ‘Isabel and her Colores Go to School’ would make a lovely read for kids below 8 years group. The language is easy to read and the pictures are gorgeous. Alexandra Alessandri for sure has a knack for coming out with stories that connect with you at a deeper level. We had loved her earlier book and we absolutely adore this one too.
Do give this one a try and let us know if you liked it. This book is available for purchase at Amazon or you may check it out in your local library.
And this book for sure deserves a doodle from our side. We will be creating something sweet for Isabel soon and upload it at our Creative Corner. As you know, we love to doodle the character or anything special out of the books that we enjoyed reading. You may find some of our doodle prompts and tutorials for your little artists at our Creative Corner or our Instagram page.
Until we meet again,
Read every day, doodle every day, and keep the boredom away.
Love.
Kiddingly
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