Children’s book to benefit blind people

A special children’s picture book, Colour the Stars, gives children the opportunity to experience a different way of ‘seeing’ the world.

Written by Dawn McMillan and illustrated by Keinyo White, Colour the Stars is a poignant and uplifting story about two children, Isaac and Luke, which explores the question ‘How do you describe a colour to someone who can’t see?’.

Dawn is also generously donating the royalties of the book, which is published by Scholastic, to the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind’s Guide Dog Services.

“It felt right to support the RNZFB with proceeds from the story. I chose the RNZFB guide dogs as one day a boy like Luke might decide he needs a guide dog,” Dawn says.

Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB) Chief Executive, Sandra Budd, says the story will be a great tool to raise awareness of blindness.

“The story conveys vision impairment in such a wonderful way for children to learn and be aware of the different ways blind and partially sighted children discover the world,” she says.

Scholastic has been working with Dawn on Colour the Stars since 2009, when it was accepted for publication. It is Dawn’s twentieth picture book and one of her favourite stories.

Colour the Stars is available now from bookstores nationwide.