Red Is…

“Red is...” winner of “Best Children’s Illustrated eBook” at the Independent Book Awards in 2013 and has been highly commended in Arts and Literary circles. Its simplicity (almost minimalistic) is paramount to its ability to captivate the reader.

The idea is that on each page of the book there is a word that can express the meaning behind the colour. It can be “brave”, “exciting”, “romantic”... overall there are 15 words (to 15 pages of the ebook). On the left page lies the word, on the right hand is its counterpart illustration. If you wait a few seconds or tap the illustration, you can listen to a sound effect that also links the word and image. We found that this enhances the reading experience as children are very taken in by the sounds which help to rapidly commit the new word to memory.

We think that the best way to get the most out of the book (because there is a lot that you can take from it), is to sit with your class or child and read the e-book together. You can discuss the meaning of colour, or perhaps extrapolate the idea and then discuss the possible meanings of other colours.  Such an activity further develops a young child’s capability of understanding semiotics, to consider the visual articulation of language and to combine the concepts together as they develop their overall communication and cognitive skills.

An added dimension to the ebook, is that in the instances where the colour expresses feelings (which is very often), the interactive ebook creates the opportunity to discuss emotions and to articulate different types of emotions. This is very useful as it develops emotional intelligence and empathy.

Overall, we found this app to be very enjoyable and useful.  We can tell that is has been created with great care and sensibility and we hope that you enjoy it too.