I’ve been reading this wonderful picture book about the history of the color blue- a color that evokes deep emotions and has a rich and sometimes tragic history. Here’s a video of the book being read:

The book won the 2023 Orbis Pictus Award for Best Nonfiction For Children:

In identifying an “outstanding” book for children, the committee members will consider the following:

• Accuracy of presentation in both text and illustrative material, as well as appropriate documentation, avoidance of anthropomorphism and teleology, distinction between fact and theory, and balanced treatment.
• Organization of material (e.g., general to specific; specific to general) that contributes to clarity and accessibility.
• Style of writing that is engaging and distinctive in its use of language.
• Style of illustration that is engaging, informative, and complementary to the text.
• Appropriateness of book design based on the topic or subject and with respect to the different age groups for which the topic or subject may be appropriate.
• Potential contribution to the K-8 curriculum.

National Council of Teachers of English Website: Orbis Pictus Website.

As I mentioned in my Coronation post, the colors blue and purple have been associated with power (earthly or heavenly) because for centuries they have been hard to produce, and the book tells that history extremely well while highlighting the people and cultures that created those dyes by harvesting shellfish and collecting indigo plants:

A few good reasons to appreciate the color blue. Throughout history, humans have captured, cultivated, and coaxed the color blue out of everything from mollusks to rocks to plants. In this fascinating exploration of our relationship to this once-precious color, Brew-Hammond begins by discussing its elusive nature: Seawater is blue, but the color disappears when water is cupped in ones hand; similarly, crushing iris petals yields blue, but the hue quickly dissipates when soaked in water. Readers learn that the earliest known use of blue dates back to about 4500 B.C.E. in Afghanistans Sar-e-Sang Valley and that ancient Egyptians used it, too. But blue has been found worldwide. It was extracted from the bellies of particular shellfish in coastal Japan, Central America, the Mediterranean, and Mexico and harvested from plants in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Because of its rarity, blue has been considered a royal color reserved for use by the wealthy and privileged. Laced with insights, Brew-Hammonds meditative verse covers a wide range of cultures, time periods, and geographical locations, while Minters mesmerizing images highlight the significance of blue to diverse groups of people through culturally specific visuals such as hairstyles and clothing design. The highly textured backgrounds add life and movement to the focal images in the foreground. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Stunning and informativeand as profoundly rich as the color blue. (authors note, facts about blue, selected sources)

Kirkus Reviws

As the review above shows, the book doesn’t focus on European royals or colonialist countries that bought and wore blue clothing, it focuses on the countries that make blue in places like Africa, Asia, and Central or South America. It also doesn’t disguise the fact that the slave trade in America was partially used to gather indigo plants, which the illustrator poignantly represents on the page where slaves are painted with blue dye- they lived and died for the color of their skin, and for the color they were forced to cultivate.

Fortunately, the book doesn’t end on the exploitation of people for the sake of a color, it also celebrates the triumph of science as chemist Adolph Von Baeyer labors to develop an artificial dye- one that would make such backbreaking labor unnecessary. Von Baeyer began working in 1865, the same year the American Civil War ended.

So what does this have to do with Shakespeare?

Brew-Hammond explores the history and culture surrounding blue powders and dyes, a rare and prized commodity until recently. She details how the ancient Egyptians ground lapis lazuli rocks from Afghanistan to make blue pigment for royals; later, sea snails were used by dyers until the indigo plant became a more practical solution for large quantities; and finally, Adolf von Baeyer created chemical blue, which led to widespread availability of this color. She also touches on some concepts and emotions associated with this hue: feeling blue (sad), blues music, out of the blue (unexpected), royal blue, and blue ribbons (extraordinary). Minter’s acrylic-wash illustrations depict predominantly Black figures, a nod to the key role played by West African dyers in developing these tinctures, and the importance of enslaved Africans whose toil made possible the North American indigo industry. Blue tints appear in every spread, but often as a spotlight color; reds, yellows, and greens do the heavy lifting, allowing the blue tones to stand out. A fascinating look at an underreported topic.

Kay Weisman (Booklist)

What’s really wonderful about this book is that it doesn’t just detail the history of the color blue, it also delves into its poetic history- the way we use blue as an adjective, in expressions, and many other daily occurrences. Terms like ‘feeling blue,’ or ‘blue blood,’ and the connotations of the sky and ocean make blue a color that is grand and vast, but hard to catch. This quality of tantalizing beauty has inspired many poets, including Shakespeare:

 CLEOPATRA: Here
My bluest veins to kiss; a hand that kings
Have lipp’d, and trembled kissing.

Antony and Cleopatra

• Rosalind. There is none of my uncle’s marks upon you; he taught me
  how to know a man in love; in which cage of rushes I am sure you
  are not prisoner.1455
• Orlando. What were his marks?
• Rosalind. A lean cheek, which you have not; a blue eye and sunken,
  which you have not; 

As You Like It

Under these windows, white and azure laced
With blue of heaven’s own tinct. 

Cymbeline

Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead
Till of this flat a mountain you have made
T’ o’ertop old Pelion or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.

Hamlet

Also, apparently, there is a shade of blue CALLED “SHAKESPEARE!”

So, I hope you enjoyed this look into the complex history and mystery of the color blue. Like Shakespeare, blue is mysterious but pervasive- hard to pin down in history books, but admired and celebrated to this very day.