When I Coloured in the World; Ahmadreza Ahmadi, illustrated by Ehsan Abdollahi

How would you colour in the world? When a young girl is given a box of colouring crayons she sets about creating her perfect vision of the world by erasing all the badness and replacing it with with good. No longer will people suffer, go hungry, be victims of war or feel sad. Through colour, hope and happiness will be spread across the world…

A simple and unique picture book that portrays the innocence of childhood dreams. It is filled with kindness and positivity and visions of a better future for the world. The text is set out as short individual poems making it a book that could be dipped in and out of or a specific poem and colour could be chosen to be explored in detail. The repetition of the opening and closing lines of each poem make it an ideal book for young readers to read independently.

Full page illustrations on the left pages have a background colour in the child’s choice of crayon and are completed with vibrant and brightly coloured artwork. The artwork is beautiful and what I really like is that the drawings have a childlike quality to them making it believable that the child in the book has created each piece. On the right page are the poetic words of the text that identify what would be changed and in what colour.

A thoughtful, positive and inspiring read that is sure to spark conversations about what we can all do to make the world a better and kinder place.

Recommended for 5+