The Color Collector --The Power of a Kind Welcome
Who hasn’t ever been the new kid? When I was little, in new situations, I’d sometimes hide behind a book or a task in order to make myself unavailable and avoid rejection. I was a little bit odd—goofier than most, big round purple tinted glasses, and a mullet. Oof. I’ll never forget the friends along the way who were interested in getting to know me.
So I love this book, The Color Collector, because it hones in on a key quality that brings the kind welcome forward. And that quality is curiosity. Open curiosity. When one little boy meets the new shy girl in his class, he decides to follow his curiosity and ask questions about her habit of picking up little scraps of colored paper everywhere she goes. His curiosity leads him to listen to her story and to learn more about who she is and where she’s from. And from there a colorful new friendship is born.
Written by Nicholas Solis and Illustrated by Renia Metallinou
“She was new.
She was quiet.
I think she was lonely.
That was the day I met Violet.”