I was sent the most amazing book recently – a fantastic book for teaching people all about Colour Blindness. And what makes it even more incredible, is that it’s been written by a 9 1/2 year old called Malachi Sawyer! NINE AND A HALF..how brilliant is that?

‘Colour Blindness And Me‘ is a wonderful, bright, beautifully illustrated book that not only helps children and adults understand more about what colour blindness is, but also provides incredibly useful tips on how to ensure children who are colour blind are fully included.

I was absolutely honoured to have my endorsement quote on the back cover of this book too!

What did we like abut it?

• Great Resource to share with Family/Teachers- If your child is colour blind and you’re wanting family, friends and teachers to know more about it then this is certainly the book for you. Not only is it packed full of useful information about colour blindness, what it is, how it effects people etc… but it has a certain charm to it because it’s written by a child. And by charm, I don’t mean it’s any less of a good book (it’s just as good as one’s many adults have written!) what I mean is, you can hear that wonderfully honest, open and fresh voice that tells you how it is...the voice you only hear when you listen to children. And that is what makes this book particularly brilliant. I mean, who better to learn about colour blindness in children than a child who is colour blind?

• Empowering for Children- The way Malachi writes about his colour blindness is just so brilliant. He writes about it in such a ‘matter of fact’ manner that it will empower children to realise it doesn’t have to be a ‘big deal’ and that it’s really common. I love how he describes colour blindness ‘that you see colours differently’. He makes it sound a lot less scary for children who might have just found out they are colour blind. He also says that most of the time he doesn’t think about being colour blind because it’s just part of him, and he accepts it. And he provides lovely, motivational paragraphs to help children to not be ashamed of being colour blind. What a fantastic role model!

• Dispels Myths around Colour Blindness- There’s so much to learn about colour blindness from this book, it’s packed full of scientific background (including accessible genetics!) and statistics. I love that Malachi also dispels myths with his book, for example he explains that he is Red-Green colour blind and how often people think that means he only gets confused with greens and red, but as its of lots have red and green in them like orange, brown and purple- he also has problems with them.

• ‘Sign-posts’ useful websites/apps– Not only is this book really useful in itself, but it also highlights useful websites/apps to find extra information. For example, colourblindnessaware.org

• Provides useful tips for families and teachers– Woven into the book are some fantastic strategies and tips for helping children with colourblindness. Malachi provides lots of examples of how it effects him and simple ways that can help. As a former SENDCO and private tutor for children with Special Educational Needs, I thought I knew a fair bit about colour blindness before reading his book, but I’ve genuinely learnt quite a bit. I’ve learnt practical things such as that for some children with colourblindness, knowing if a banana or strawberry is ripe- can be really tricky. And also knowing if batteries are charged when the red and green lights are used, can also pose a challenge. I also found the ‘Help’ section really useful, it’s so helpful to see it from the point of view of a child and what they think teachers/friends/family could do to make things easier.

Buy Malachi’s brilliant book from Waterstones here.