New Colorblind Children’s Book Recently Published
We at colorblind.org would like to highlight a new children’s book by Carla Trible. Carla has created Feather and the Lonesome Firefly, specifically using colorblind design techniques intended to help students understand their colorblind peers. Continue reading below to learn more about her innovative creation process
Inspiration
I have been a science teacher for 25 years. I teach about colorblindness, and try to show my students what the colorblind world is like. That one simple lesson encourages others to be compassionate and more understanding to their colorblind classmates. I do believe there are more colorblind individuals than people realize. I see the frustrations my colorblind students have, and I wanted to do something about it. They have been forgotten for too long. I felt like encouraging children to read is a good place to start, so I tried my best to create a book that is interesting to them.
Creative Process
Illustrations were designed with the colorblind spectrum right from the beginning. I tried to include areas of contrast, especially around the main characters. I hid tiny animals everywhere, hoping they would be fun for colorblind children to find. In my experience as a teacher, colorblind students excel in noticing areas of different contrast and patterns.
As I worked on illustrations, I checked them with a DaltonLens.org simulator, which I have used for years in my classroom and found to be quite accurate. Nicolas Burrus has been incredibly supportive and has allowed me to share the simulations so that others can understand what I did. I also had colorblind students and adults provide their thoughts and suggestions, and I was able to modify where needed.
Additional Thoughts
This book will NOT provide additional colors for colorblind children. However, it does use their entire spectrum. Instead of the many books that look brown to them (primarily due to red and green colors used), this one is vibrant with blues and yellows and has many areas of contrast.
Print colors are very challenging and cannot be as vibrant as the e-book. For that reason, both are available on Amazon.
If you have questions, please contact me at carla@feathersgift.com
