There are times we are seem to forget and take advantage of our use of all five of our senses, but what if you were to lose your sense of sight? In The Sound of Colors: A Journey of the Imagination, Jimmy Liao tells a story that makes us realize what we do have, while also making us think once again on expanding our imagination even more.
The story is about a blind girl and her journey on the subways one day; since she can no longer see, she must use her other senses and her imagination to get herself through the day, and she has quite the imagination! Liao has a great usage of vocabulary in the story to emphasize the different senses that are used on this particular trip.
“Listen! Far ahead, at the end of the tunnel,
can you hear it?
A butterfly is flapping her wings.
I can feel the wind she makes
brushing against my face.”
This is just one of the many pages of the book with great illustrations. While the vivid words by themselves present us with a picture of what is happening in the story, Jimmy Liao also fills every page with bright, detail-oriented pictures to depict what fills her imagination.
Curriculum Connections
There are many directions for the teacher to go in after reading this story to the class. First, although the story may be a bit too much information to use in presenting the five senses to a kindergarten or a first-grade class, it does work well to reinforce a slightly older student’s process skills through its subtle way of including all the senses. This is a good way for Virginia teachers to fulfill the Science SOL 2.1.
That is just one of the ways that teachers can further their students education with the use of this book though. The Sound of Colors also presents opportunities for teachers to confront their students with different issues, such as dealing with and better understanding people who are blind, as well as how to express their own creativity.
Additional Resources
- Here are multiple activities for students pertaining to an enhanced sense due to a lack of sight.
- Here is an assignment that can enhance students’ future writing abilities.
Book: The Sound of Colors: A Journey of the Imagination
Author/Illustrator: Jimmy Liao
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 80
Grades: 2-6
ISBN: 0-346-93992-7