Title: The Colour Thief: A Family’s Story of Depression
Author: Andrew Fusek Peters, Polly Peters
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Publication Date: September 1st, 2015
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“A child recounts his experience of losing his father to depression in this poignant and beautifully illustrated picture book. The boy’s father disappears into a world without color. As the father seeks help, color begins to reappear and with it hope. An ideal book for parents and caregivers to share with children to help them make sense of the devastating effects that depression can cause.”
This book would be excellent to use in a classroom. The personification of the father’s depression as a loss of color makes depression easier for children to understand.
Literacy Standards
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Health Standards
- HBO
1.Express feelings in a healthy way
2. Engage in activities that are mentally and emotionally healthy
6. Get help for troublesome thoughts, feelings, or actions for oneself and others
8. Establish and maintain healthy relationships
- NHES
MEH 1.5.3 Describe the relationship between feelings and behavior
MEH 1.5.6 Describe healthy ways to express affection, love, friendship, and concern
MEH 1.5.9 Identify feelings of depression, sadness, and hopelessness for which someone should seek help