Customer Reviews

Sound of Colors (English)

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I am somewhat surprised by the descriptions of many of the reviewers here at Amazon since my first impression of the book was entirely different.

The real theme of this book, while ostensibly about a wonderfully imaginative blind girl, is really not about blindness at all. The author meant blindness as a metaphor for the way we humans navigate through life. I have read the original Taiwanese version and not the English translation, and perhaps some nuances were lost in translation, but if so, English readers are missing out on the true heart of this book.

The original Chinese title "Di Xia Tie" - literally "Underground Iron", and meaning "Subway" - should give readers a clue. And it becomes pretty clear as one reads that the focus is on the trip itself and the myraid, surrealistic stops along the way. The conclusion that the subway trip is really a metaphor for the experience of life becomes really hard to avoid when the author makes allusions to school memories, lost toys,and unrealistic day dreams.

There are also references to angels and perhaps, at the end of the book, a deity that would be attractive to certain religions. The beginning of the original starts off like this (from memory): "After the angel left me at the entrance to the subway, I gradually became blind."

I would not recommend the book for young children, for while they would certainly enjoy the beautiful illustrations in the book and the poignant poetry, they would miss out on core meaning of the story. This heartfelt book is for teenagers trying to get through turbulent years in their own ways and for all adults, especially those whose vision of life have been dulled by the weight of experience and memory, needing a new imaginative outlook.

Many of Jimmy Liao's books have a similar charm. They look like children's books, are drawn like children's books and sometimes even read like children's books, but if you look past the colorful pages and read in between the lines, onto the symbols and metaphors, you'll find profound ideas about the human condition.

For those needing a reason to pick up mandarin Chinese, Jimmy Liao has published over twenty good reasons so far.

I am reading his series called "Paradise Lost" (Shi Le Yuan), and there is a reappearence of blindness, apples and dancing.

Okay, I need you to make two lists on two separate sheets of paper. On one sheet I want you to write down all the picture books you can think of that deal with kids who are going to be or already are blind. Got that? Okay, now on the other sheet I want you to write down all the picture books you can think of that were originally written in Chinese and have been translated into English. All right, pencils down, and let's see what you have. Now if you're like me you probably had a devil of a time coming up with any titles at all. I'm a children's librarian and work with picture books every day. Just the same, I found myself stumbling over whether or not I could think of any children's books, picture and otherwise, that spoke about blindness. Obviously there are some out there, but I've just never been privy to them. As for Chinese translations, American publishers are notoriously frightened of introducing books from other cultures into the American market. Credit Little, Brown and Company then with what may well be one of the finest transplantations of Chinese children's literature in years. Originally this book came to my attention because my fellow children's literature bloggers were cooing so loudly over it. Part over-the-top dreamscape, part personal journey, the book is one of those remarkable stories offering up personal reflections without a drop of self-pity.

Our heroine is a girl in a red backpack a pair of blue-tinted sunglasses. The first sentences in the book read, "A year ago I began to notice that my sight was slipping away. I sat at home alone and felt the darkness settle around me. But today I walked outside into the thin gray rain and made my way to the subway. I have a journey to go on. There are some things I need to find". It starts out slowly. The gray colorless subway doesn't offer much for the imagination, but our heroine starts to think and dream. She wonders what the world will be like when she reaches a different stop. Her mind begins to expand upon the places the train might take her and the occupants of those trains. When she exits stations she sometimes thinks, "What if I stepped out into an ocean?", and sometimes, "I wonder what would happen if I stepped off the last stair and found nothing beneath my foot". In this way she flies downward, soars upwards, and the stations become more and more colorful and powerful. Trains can be filled with passengers wearing sunglasses identical to the girl's or filled with Tin Woodsmen, for no particular reason. The girl glides on the back of a swan or sits in a library windowseat as an orange sunset suffuses the room. At last she returns home to find the light she lost that still glows, "in my heart". The final image is of the girl entering a home that has vibrant stained glass walls of enormous colors, images, and comforts.

By and large, you don't normally come across picture books that are 80 pages long. There's a level of sophistication to, "The Sound of Colors", however, that allows for this unusual length. It isn't as if you're going through page after page of intensive text, after all. Sometimes pages don't have any words at all. Other time they think rather mature thoughts with rather simple words. Kids reading this book will be enthralled by the illustrations, and may return to them time and again just to see how they connect and change.

I don't think a person would have the slightest idea that this book had been originally published in China if you didn't tell them right off the bat. There's no indication that the subway isn't in New York or D.C., except possibly the fact that there isn't much diversity amongst the passengers. The illustrations in this puppy are the real lure. The plot's nice and all, of course. And the translation isn't too shabby either. But where Liao outdoes himself is in the massive dreamlike narratives that confuse and fill the book to the brim. At one point our heroine travels on a small train onto which has been painted with figures from Matisse paintings. Above her head is the buried skeleton of a dinosaur held up by wooden beams. Tiny details elaborate on her thoughts but never draw too much attention. Describing her blindness the girl says, "The last thing I lost was the light, as if somebody played a joke on me, turned off the switch". Below you see a train filled with dark figures. In front of the train a younger version of the girl runs playfully through a yellow field after two bunnies. From her size you know you're looking at the past, or maybe a memory. Add onto all of this the fact that with every colorful scene the girl's clothing changes color, and you have a book that isn't afraid to play with its readers' perceptions.

I don't know why, but the book that "The Sound of Colors" reminded me of the most was "The Maze" by Christopher Manson. In both cases the reader enters into surreal fabulous worlds where anything can happen just on the next page. There's a little feel of Peter Sis as well. At once point the girl finds her way out of a hedge maze by simply leaping through it and every single leaf on that hedge has been carefully drawn individually with a meticulous hand. As for the professional uses of this book, "The Sound of Colors" lends itself to creative possibilities. You could perhaps use this title to show kids the power of imagination or explain what it's like to loose one of your senses. You could pair it with Chris Van Allsburg's, "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" and have your kids create stories to accompany each elaborate scene the girl walks through. Or you could just read it to your kids and enjoy it that way. It's a lovely book with surreal pictures and realistic thoughts. A beautiful addition to any personal library.

With allusions to "The Wizard of Oz," "Alice in Wonderland," and psychologist/anthropologist C. G. Jung, "Color of Sounds" tells teh story of a blind young girl who rides a vast subway network because "I have a journey to go on. There are some thing I need to find." What follows is a remarkable narrative about internal and external discovery, with some of the most luscious and creative illustrations in recent memory.

The girl disembarks at various subway stops (subway illustrations are always panelled strips running across the middle of a two page spread), and climbs colorfully patterned stairs (often reminscent of M.C.Escher) and arrives at archtypal settings: An apple tree sitting Eden-like in a verdant forest, alongside dolphis and atop a whale, a topiary-adorned maze. Jimmy Liao presents his metaphors on both adult and children's levels. While adults may recognize the symbolic conflicts and issues presented by a maze; for example, children benefit from the explicit text: "Sometimes the street twist themselves into a maze.But if you look hard enough, there's always a way out. Other sections may benefit from discussion at an age-appropriate level. At one subway station, there are four trains going in both directions, all filled with people, and all colored differently. THe girl stands between them, "Which is the right one? It's easy to get lost underground."

At his point, she seems to take her own route, riding a kiddie train (decorated with motifs decorated a la Guaguin, Matisse, and others), then abandons the train to a white swan swimming against a cloudy yet luminescent background (a mystically beautiful and serene illustration). She slowly arrives at her answers. "HOme is the place where everything I've lost is waiting patiently for me to find my way back." She realizes that because she "went forward, step by step, into the dark," used her other sense (listening "for the sound of colors I can't see"; smelling the shapes and tasting "the light and dark," and hoping for someone "who'll sit beside me, sip tea, tell me her hopes for the future, and listen to mine." (Here, the two-page spread depicts her sitting on a green oval-shaped chair, surrounded by four rows of empty chairs in various colors, shapes, and sizes.

Towards the conclusion, the young girl encounters a butterfly, whom she believes may offer the answers to her hopes and dreams:

She'll tale me
to the friend I need to find.
She'll lead me to the place
where all the colors are.

she'll bring me back to the light that I lost,
still glowing here, in my heart.

An enormously colorful mosaic of birds, flowers, eyes, and other motifs surround the now smiling girl, when Liao write "in my heart." It's neither saccharine or precious. While the book may be read at many levels, and it simulatneously present many emotions and moods (fear, comfort, solitude, hope, wonder) the overall effect is an almost staggering visual and narrative display of poetry. The undertones can be dark and may even frighten some children (know your audience), but for othos who have begun their own journies of self- and other- discovery, for those who feel lost or have experienced pain, poor health, or disability, this book highlights the fact and ignites thought of possibility and transcendance.

A young woman who has lost her sight rides the subway to places only visible in her imagination. The pages are filled with vivid sensory details describing the way she remembers and perceives and imagines the world around her.

The stunning illustrations and the main's character's colorful journey provide a sharp contrast to the dark reality of her world.

An imaginative story that will leave readers with much to think about.

Jimmy Liao was born in Taipei, and is the author and illustrator of more than twenty books that have been translated into numerous languages. The Sound of Colors has been adapted into a stage play and motion picture by a Hong Kong filmmaker.

A young girl began losing her eyesight a year ago. And while she doesn't have her vision to guide her, she has her white cane and her imagination to help her on her subway journey. While on the subway ride she sees sights and colors in her mind. Some she remembers, others she creates as she learns about the new world around her--the world where she must imagine.

The young girl is compelling and strong. She doesn't allow her disability to get the best of her. She is determined to be independent and the reader will be inspired and rejoice in her courage.

The words are beautiful and lyrical. The watercolor illustrations envelop the reader and we become lost in the details of the pictures.

All children will benefit from reading Liao's book. It may help them think about the senses they use daily and take for granted. For children who are visually challenged, it puts words to what they may feel but don't have the verbal ability to express.

As the mother of a blind child, The Sound of Colors brought tears to my eyes as I clearly saw what it must be like for my son. And I appreciate and applaud Mr. Liao's desire to write a book for the thousands of children who live in darkness. What an encouragement to imagine!

Armchair Interviews says: A must read book for children Grade 1-5.

A pity that Hollywood has ruined so many story endings by making them all so damn uplifting. What's wrong with a little melancholy?

A year ago
I began to notice
that my sight was slipping away.
I sat home alone
and felt the darkness settle around me.

In Liao's bittersweet telling, a blind narrator ventures forth into the subway, searching for an unnamed something or someone. It quickly becomes clear that nothing can restore her eyesight, but acquiring vision is another, more heartfelt, matter.

Originally written in Chinese, the translation is set in New York, but it could well be any teeming, multi-ethnic city. At each subway station the girl alights onto an imagined landscape; dolphins frisk at one, clouds drift below another.

It's choc-a-bloc with allusions, first to childhood classics: the monster from Where the Wild Things Are or Hans Christian Anderson's the steadfast tin soldier, to name only two.

Liao then pays subtle homage to some of Modern Art's great colorists; watch for visual references to Matisse, Mondrian, Chagall and even Escher's monochromatic dreamscapes as she descends and ascends, again and again, tap-tapping out the new terrain where memory and wishfulness intersect.

The narrator's endearing for her refusal to let darkness define her world or narrow her possibilities, an important example for shy children especially. This story dares them to be brave and independent, to explore and feel and hear and really see.

I purchased this book for my 3 year old. I liked the idea that it seemed different than many books on the market. The first time I read I wondered if it was appropriate since it talks about the dark and not being able to see. My daughter really liked it. The more we've read it, the more I enjoy the message of this book. It has allowed for some conversations about the differences that people have. The illustrations are amazing. I think we find something new everytime we read this book!

Beautiful story. A girl lost her sight and goes to the subway because she has - "a journey to go on. There are some things I need to find." (from the book)

The story is like a metaphor of life, and not only about a blind girl. But isn't that great that it covers both? There was SO much I loved about this book. The pictures are very appealing and adorable, rich in color and design. The story is gentle and thought provoking.

I notice the recommended reading range is ages 9-12. That's probably a good evaluation, but I think that smaller children would benefit also, because the language is simple and the pictures are so great. Most likely younger children would see this story as a blind girl telling what she thinks things are like, what she sees in her imagination, and the parents reading the book get the gift of the deeper meaning revealed. I think this is a great book for any age. I do think this is my very favorite picture book.

I love it and I hope you will read it and enjoy it too!

This books is good in English, but I preferred the Chinese version much better. In English, things got a little over simplified, where as they were more complex in Chinese. I recently saw the Chinese version available for sale on the China Books website.
This book is age appropriate for older children to adults, not exactly children. I wouldn't buy it for anyone younger than 10.

Captivatingly colourful and creative illustrations combine with dreamy inner dialogue to carry us along on a journey of reflection, isolation, loss and hope. This book envelopes our whole family and sweeps us away.