As regular readers of this blog and my Twitter feed might know, I am a huge fan of the beautiful and diverse picture books published by Tiny Owl Books. That’s why I was so pleased that they’ve launched YouTube channel to share their stories with a wider audience, and honoured to be asked to record a story for them. I’ve already recorded ‘There’s Room For Everyone,’ so this time I chose the poetically beautiful ‘When I coloured in the World.’

When a child is presented with a box of crayons, they set out to make the world they see around them a brighter, happier place. They rub out the word ‘hunger’ and colour in the green wheat.  They erase the word ‘crying’ and colour in the purple of laughter.  AS they continue to replace all the bad in the world with colour and light, people become happy and begin smiling and laughing.

Book Boy Junior said: “I like how the child rubbed out all the bad things and made the world a happier place.  The colours made me feel happy too.”

Deceptively simple but with a powerful message about being positive and making a change to help make the world a happier place.  Written by award-winning poet Ahmadreza Ahmadi, and translated from the original Persian by Azita Rassi, this beautifully illustrated picture book holds inspiration for all in these testing times.

You can listen to me read this story HERE.

Library Girl.