Lyn uses coloured glasses as a metaphor for how
children see things, and how they think about what they see.
Changing the
colour of the glasses, allows their emotional state to be reflected in their
colour choice.
This encourages emotional health and stability, self awareness,
and offers alternative choices about what they see and how that is interpreted.
If they look through grey glasses, they see things dull and muted and
themselves as unworthy.
With Kirrili Lonergan’s brilliant characters Loppy
and Curly, children step into a situation that needs all the skills mentioned.
It focuses on what colour glasses Loppy is seeing his art work through and the
connecting emotions that surface when he uses the grey coloured ones.
This series awakens in parents, resourceful
approaches to problems and angst faced by young children in their formative
years. It opens doors and windows through discussion and conversations linked
to the main themes addressed here.
Colour and its importance is accentuated literally
and metaphorically. Children can visually identify the differences between
changing the way they look at things and the way they feel, through Loppy and
Curly’s interactions.
If you haven’t looked at any of the books in this
series - each with a separate issue and approach to it, start from the first
book, Lessons of a LAC, which
addresses anxiety in children. Strangely
enough, I found that they offer excellent strategies for people of all ages,
not only for children. What is suggested here can easily be applied to anyone
challenged by the way they view their world, and the emotional cost to them by
looking through the wrong lenses.
Title:
Grey-glasses-itis
Author:
Lyn Jenkins
Illustrator:
Kirrili Lonergan
Publisher:
EK Books, $19.99
Publication
Date: January 2019
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9781925335958
For
ages: 4 - 8
Type:
Picture Book