Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
The Color of Home
This remarkably moving picture book follows first-grader Hassan through his first few days at school. Hassan has only recently arrived in the United States after he and his family were forced to flee Somalia, and he deeply misses the colorful landscape of his former home in Africa. But with the help of his parents, an understanding teacher, and a school art project, Hassan...more
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
September 30th 2002
by Dial
(first published 2002)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
154)
This remarkably moving picture book follows first-grader Hassan through his first few days at school. Hassan has only recently arrived in the United States after he and his family were forced to flee Somalia, and he deeply misses the colorful landscape of his former home in Africa. But with the help of his parents, an understanding teacher, and a school art project, Hassan finds that by painting a picture of his old home and sharing his story, his homesickness and the trauma of leaving a war-tor...more
”The Color of home” is a very touching story about a Somalian boy who moves with his family to America. This boy doesn’t know a word of English, and has experienced a lot of bad things in his childhood. When he starts at school he has nobody, and when the teacher makes them draw a picture, he draws down all his feelings, and the teacher could see his pain. He wanted to draw a new one the next day, one he could bring home to his family. The next day his teacher brings in a translator that helps h...more
Having moved from his homeland in Somalia, Hassan begins school in ‘gray’ England, feeling lost, sad and not understanding a word of English around him. Hassan doesn’t like his new school or his new home. Drawing a picture of what actually happened in Somalia, the reason Hassan and his family emigrated to England, a sad and worrying story is unravelled. With the help of a translator, the class teacher and the children in his class, Hassan begins to settle in and feels a little more at ease, he s...more
The colour of home is based on a young boy travelling from Somalia to UK and attempting to fit in to his new surroundings. When asked to draw a painting in classroom lesson, Hassan initially draws a colourful image of his family’s house, members and animals. However, he soon remembers the horrific incident that happened in his village which drove them out of Somalia. Hassan begins to draw a black figure with a gun, blood splats all over the walls of the house and he smudges his uncle into a blur...more
Published: 2002, Dial
Age: 4-8
Hassan is a little boy who has just emigrated from Somalia. He and his family had to leave because of the civil war there. It is his first day of school and everything is cold and gray and different from his homeland. He is very homesick. The students are nice to him but he doesn’t speak the language except for a couple of words. When his teacher gives him paints, he creates a nice picture of his home but then ruins it by splattering red paint and flames over it and...more
Age: 4-8
Hassan is a little boy who has just emigrated from Somalia. He and his family had to leave because of the civil war there. It is his first day of school and everything is cold and gray and different from his homeland. He is very homesick. The students are nice to him but he doesn’t speak the language except for a couple of words. When his teacher gives him paints, he creates a nice picture of his home but then ruins it by splattering red paint and flames over it and...more
view 1 comment
This picture book, intended for ages 4-8, is a beautifully illustrated book about a young child adjusting to life in America after being forced out of his home in Somalia by a violent war. The little boy, feels very alone and unable to communicate since he does not know anybody or the language. However, with the help of his parents, his teacher, and an interpreter, he uses painting as a way to communicate and help in adjusting to his new home in America.
Children, especially immigrants, who are...more
Children, especially immigrants, who are...more
The Colour of Home is a book primarily looking at the issue of refugee children. The story is about a little boy whose family have been given asylum in the UK and it is his first time at school. It portrays some of the issues that arise, both simple misunderstandings and also more complex issues, which need to be addresses by a specialist. The young boy has seen and heard some terrible things in his home country and therefore needs special care and attention. The book ends with the boy, although...more
PreS-Gr. 3. The author of the popular picture book Amazing Grace (1991) tells another moving story here of an immigrant kid in the classroom. Hassan's Muslim family was driven from their home in Somalia by the violent civil war. On his first day of school in America, everything looks gray and strange and he can't speak English. Then in art class he paints a picture of the happy home he remembers before the soldiers came to his village. When he paints a second picture of the nightmares that haunt...more
This book is about a boy named Hassan who has recently left his home country, Somalia to live in England. The story is told from Hassan’s perspective of how he is feeling about living in a new country and going to a new school. He explains that he is finding it difficult to understand the other children and his class teacher when they speak to him, he also explains that he is finding it hard to view England as his home because he was use to the way he lived in Somalia. In the afternoon Hassan’s...more
This book reinforces the healing power of telling one's own story, especially for immigrants who are fleeing trauma in their homeland. Hassan feels overwhelmed by a new home (with a new climate), a new school and a new language. He was able to express some of who he is and how he feels through painting, showing his home and what happened, and finally telling his story to his teacher with the help of a Somali translator. It was only then that he began to open up, play with a new classmate and pai...more
This heart feeling story is about young, Somalian boy, Hassan, who just moved to the states. After being asked to paint a picture, Hassan draws a beautiful picture of his home in Somalia that he destroys with the horrible scenes of what happened to his family in Somalia. The teacher saw the pain in his eyes, and therefore got a translator to talk to Hassan to see what was going on with his picture. After talking to the woman, Hassan draws another picture of his home in Somalia, without the distu...more
Grade Level: K-2
Main Characters: Hassan
Setting: United States
POV: Third person
Summary:
This is a story about Hassan, a refugee from Somalia who just began attending the first grade in the United States. He is very lonely and does not know what anyone is saying to him. He also misses the colors of home and does not like this place that is always grey and cold. It is not until he starts painting a picture of his home back in Somalia is he able to communicate to his teacher and classmates. He tells...more
Main Characters: Hassan
Setting: United States
POV: Third person
Summary:
This is a story about Hassan, a refugee from Somalia who just began attending the first grade in the United States. He is very lonely and does not know what anyone is saying to him. He also misses the colors of home and does not like this place that is always grey and cold. It is not until he starts painting a picture of his home back in Somalia is he able to communicate to his teacher and classmates. He tells...more
This heart-warming book is about a 1st grader named Hassan. He was forced to leave his homeland of Somalia due to war. He deeply misses his home in Africa, especially the brighter colors in the scenery. For a school art project, he paints a picture of home to help with his homesickness. He learns that his new home in America has many similarities to Africa. This is a very valuable book for teachers of ELLs because it provides them with an opportunity to help their students adapt. By allowing the...more
In "The Color of Home" by Mary Hoffman, the young reader is confronted with the difficulties of adapting to life in a new home in the light of recent tragedy. Hassan comes to school in the United States where he begins to do well. When the class has an art project, however, Hassan moves from painting a peaceful home to one with flames and violence, memories of his recent escape from his homeland in Somalia. Through the use of art, Hassan comes to terms with the tragedy in his life and comes to a...more
I enjoyed reading this book because it highlights the Somalian conflict, a subject I learned little about in my schooling, which is surprising given its recentness and current impact. It also models a welcoming experience for a new child to a classroom in America. For classroom instruction I would use this text to explain why some students have come to America, such as to avoid warfare and conflict. Hopefully students could empathize with children living in unsafe environments, and begin to unde...more
Hassan has come to the U.S. from Somalia. He doesn't speak much English yet but he paints a devastating picture of his life at home, including the death of his uncle. His astute teacher realizes he needs help in expressing his grief and fear so she brings in a translator who helps him work through his emotions. He ends by painting an optimistic picture of the future. Vivid watercolor paintings portray not only Hassan in his classroom and at home, but also the paintings he creates himself. The Le...more
Mar 19, 2012
Den
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
sen - behaviour
The world looks dull to Hassan - just lots of greys and browns. he is a refugee who has fled his homeland of Somalia and now has settled with his family in the UK. Here it is cold, wet and rainy and he doesn't understand why people do things and what they say.
At school he paints the sun-splashed colours of his Somalian home, covering it with harsh reds and blacks of war from which family fled. But as he begins to settle down, things grow more familiar and colours and light begin to enter his l...more
At school he paints the sun-splashed colours of his Somalian home, covering it with harsh reds and blacks of war from which family fled. But as he begins to settle down, things grow more familiar and colours and light begin to enter his l...more
The book, The Color of Home by Mary Hoffman, presents a story about Hassan a Somalian refugee who incredibly misses his home on his first day of school. Knowing only a few words in English, Hassan finds a way to communicate his emotions through his drawings. The books’ vividly detailed illustrations help ELL students grasp what the story is about. Even though it is a fiction book. It gives a glimpse of the conflict in Somlia and the hardships that cause many of them to leave this home. This book...more
The Colour Of Home is a very touching story about a Somalian boy called Hassan who moves to the UK with his family as a refugee seeking asylum. Hassan knows no English when he arrives and has had many heart-breaking experiences throughout his life in Somalia. When he begins school he has nobody who understands him and finds it extremely difficult to blend in with his peers. Things take a turn for the better when the class teacher asks children to draw a picture. Hassan expresses himself in his d...more
The Color of Home is a fictional story about Hassan, a Somalian immigrant, who feels overwhelmed with the difficulties of adapting to life in a new home after being forced out of his home by a violent war. Being along and unable to communicate, Hassan is homesick and he misses the colorful landscape of his former home in Somalia.
With this text, I can teach my students about descriptive language (ex. “The blue sky changed to a murky purple”, “blue, yellow, and white looked bright against the gray...more
With this text, I can teach my students about descriptive language (ex. “The blue sky changed to a murky purple”, “blue, yellow, and white looked bright against the gray...more
This story is of a young refugee boy from Somalia who manages to escape violence from the soldiers in his home country. The picture that he paints and later describes to a translator tells graphically of how his uncle was shot while he hides in his cousins' room. The story is very descriptive and makes one understand how someone like the boy feels in a totally foreign country and could describe it as devoid of color with its gray tones. I may use this with children when discussing immigrants or...more
This book was very touching. It is about a young boy who has recently moved to a new country from Somalia. He is unable to communicate with his classmates because of a language barrier, however his teacher presents the class with an art project which allows him to express himself to the class. The art project helps him open up his story to the class which also helps him start to realize the beauty of the new country he is in. The illustrations in this book are very beautiful water colors.
This is a perfect book for highlighting the issue of a refugee child. You can see why it won the 2003 National Literacy Association Wow award. It deals with common issues of EAL children arriving in a new country and not understanding cultural, language etc. The book makes us appreciate how hard it is for a child to make sense of their new surroundings. This book was very moving and leaves you feeling that your life is rather straightforward compared to the issues Hassan had to deal with.
-A little boy moves to the US from Somolia.
-Although he tries to embrace his new home, he still misses where he came from
-Draws a picture of where he is from
-Also draws a picture of his life to be in the US
-Great for those who can relate to the character by feeling homesick or scared but hopeful of their new home
-Gives readers an understanding of what it feels like to be from another country and moving to the US
Good read for Kindergarten to 3rd grade
-Although he tries to embrace his new home, he still misses where he came from
-Draws a picture of where he is from
-Also draws a picture of his life to be in the US
-Great for those who can relate to the character by feeling homesick or scared but hopeful of their new home
-Gives readers an understanding of what it feels like to be from another country and moving to the US
Good read for Kindergarten to 3rd grade
This moving story about a traumatized child from Somalia may help American children to glimpse the struggle he has to adapt. Healing comes a bit too fast to be realistic, but the account of his uncle's death may be a big enough dose of realism for most young children. If you read this with children, be sure to allow tie to discuss the emotions and defuse the fears that may be aroused.
Moving story about a young boy who is a refugee an the trials with adapting to a new country. Would be helpful for students who are refugees- providing they can understand English. Discusses war and death which may be too hard for second grade to understand. Would only use if we had a student in a similar situation to enable my class to better understand their background.
This remarkably moving picture book follows first-grader Hassan through his first few days at school. Hassan has only recently arrived in the United States after he and his family were forced to flee Somalia, and he deeply misses the colorful landscape of his former home in Africa. But with the help of his parents, an understanding teacher, and a school art project, Hassan finds that by painting a picture of his old home and sharing his story, his homesickness and the trauma of leaving a war-tor...more
This awesome book is about a child, who came from Somalia to the USA. In this book, we see the comparisons of countries from Hasan's perspective. ALso, we see that his first day at school even if he just know a few words in English. He discovered an interesting way to communicate with people by painting. It is very good for for teaching immigration to the USA.
The Color of Home is an excellent book! As a future educator in the California schooling system, I think this would be a great book to introduce to my students. With a huge percentage of immigrants in the schooling system, I think this book would reach out to many students. It would help young immigrants feel comfortable in the new life they are experiencing.
Hassan and his family have newly arrived in American from Somalia and misses home. While in art class, he paints a vivid picture of his war-torn native land. After his teacher seeks help from an interpreter for Hassan to share his work and his feelings, he is able ot find comfort in his new home an dexpresses it in his new artwork created for his family.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Mary Hoffman is a bestselling British author and reviewer, born in 1945. She is a true enthusiast of Italy and spends a lot of her time there, which shows in her Stravaganza novels: a series currently in publication. In total, she has written over 80 books, including the aforementioned Stravaganza series and the bestselling picture book, Amazing Grace. Mary is also the editor of a review magazine...more
More about Mary Hoffman...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
