I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I understand what they were trying to do with this book, but I didn't think it was executed well. I also wasn't a fan of the illustrations.

I think this book, When I Colored in the World, has an extremely confusing plot. It took my daughter and myself a few moments to realize that the crossing out a bad word for a better word meant. While the illustrations are beautiful, I think this book oversimplified good and bad words. I think the overall message or topic is lost within the text.

***Thanks to the publisher and #NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

I loved this book! It was insightful and so colorful. It made me happy and gave me hope.

This simple story has a very powerful message. A child is given a box of crayons by his mom and an eraser to rub things out with. He takes his rainbow of colours and rewrites words that are dark and foreboding and changes them into bright colourful words of optimism and happiness.

The child chooses colours that mend, heal, and bring hope... totally transforming the world. He spreads bright colour everywhere.

" war
I rubbed out the word war.
I got my light blue crayon and I wrote peace with it.

Light blue
Peace

All over the world news came from
radios saying that all the wars had stopped.
After that news, the radios played such lovely
music that flowers bloomed in empty vases.

I gave the world light blue."


The new fresh colours inspire people to laugh, dance, accept each other just as they are, and the world to blossom and the hungry to be fed, just to name a few.

" illness
I rubbed out the world illness.
I got my pink crayon, and I wrote health instead.

Pink
Health

All over the world people who had been ill were
suddenly well! They ran with their friends and
were happy.

I gave the world pink. "

I love this poetic book. It is thoughtful and inspiring. The illustrations are vibrant and colourful. They draw the reader into the story. "When I Colored in the World" provokes conversations about how we can change and make the world a better place. I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages.

I appreciate the idea of this book, but the structure of erasing a "bad" word with a "good" word made me wary when words like "winter" are used in the "bad" category. The over-simplicity of such a black-and-white statement doesn't fit the theme of coloring the world. I wish there was more nuance to the story. Again, the idea is cool and can create a rich a conversation with kids, but it fell short for me overall.

I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would! I just read A Bottle of Happiness, which is also illustrated by Ehsan Abdollahi. The pictures in When I Colored in the World aren't quite so frenetic and detailed, but they're still really interesting to look at. They work well here, too, given that they almost look like children's drawings, and the story is told by a child.

In some ways, this can almost be viewed as a meditation or a set of affirmations. While the child can't physically change anything by erasing words with negative connotations and replacing them with more positive ones, it's kind of a nice way to think; perhaps, after an afternoon of musing about all the issues that need working on, the child will be inspired to take more concrete steps.

I can definitely see opportunities for using this book in a classroom setting. It almost seems tailor made for lessons and projects about making the world a better place.

This book is kind of difficult to describe. I'd recommend picking up a copy and having a look. The illustrations might not be to everyone's taste, but the message is worth checking out.

I want to thank #netgalley for giving me a copy of #WhenIColoredInTheWorld to review. This is a story about taking away words and replacing them with better things and three colors that represent them. This is a good book to teach symbolism and connotation. It's a good book to start thinking about the problems in the world and how to fix them. It's not a book that I would read repeatedly, but a good one for a discussion in a classroom.

When I Colored in the World is such a great adorable book! We absolutely loved this and would definitely recommend!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.