My Indigo World: A True Story of the Color Blue

by Rosa Chang

Overview

This gorgeous celebration of the color blue and the indigo plant, by a Korean American debut artist and storyteller, powerfully connects art and the natural world.

With lavish mixed-media art including watercolor painting and hand-dyed textiles, debut author-illustrator Rosa Chang pays tribute to the science and art of growing the indigo plant and making indigo dye. Woven throughout is a poetic tribute to the color blue, Chang’s favorite since her girlhood in Korea, and an appreciation of the indigo plant as a valued source of blue dye in cultures around the world. Informative back matter tells more about the science behind indigo dye production, with an “indigo map” of the shades of blue produced by indigo around the world, and simple instructions for growing your own indigo plants and making homemade blue dye.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781662650666
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD880L (what's this?)
File size:	41 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Rosa Sung Ji Chang 장성지 is a Korean-born visual artist, natural indigo dyer, and storyteller based in New York and Baltimore. A graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art and the School of Visual Arts, New York, Rosa has had work exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Paula Cooper Gallery, among many others. This is her debut picture book.

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2023

Chang’s autobiographical debut starts off recounting a childhood encounter with indigo dye in Korea, where she first fell in love with “the strong shade of blue sky we called jjok.” Later, as an adult in Baltimore, she is given indigo seeds by a friend, and experiential text invites readers to join a community of people, portrayed with various skin tones, tilling soil and tending indigo seedlings in a neighborhood farm until the leaves get large enough “to cover the palm of my hand.” “But how do we get a blue dye from these green plants?” Careful time-lapse paintings of a jar of water-covered indigo leaves grows gradually bluer, intensified with pickling lime. The dyers talk about what indigo means to them (“I think indigo is the color in which lives the spirit and soul of my people,” one unattributed quotation reads) and Chang acknowledges indigo’s historical connection to the labor of enslaved people (“It is important to remember the pain along with the joy”). Indigo-dyed textiles form a backdrop for watercolor portraits of individuals working with the dye in this heartfelt personal reflection about community and heritage. Ages 4–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

A 2023 New York Public Library Best Book
A 2024 NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book
Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List
A 2024 CCBC Choice
A 2024 Maryland’s “Great Reads from Great Places” Library of Congress Children's Book Selection
A 2024 Bank Street Best Children's Book 


★ "Other hues will turn green with envy at the visually stunning and factually thorough attention given indigo blue in this vibrant and informative picture-book debut.... Intimate and meditative...and should find quick use in both scientific and artistic circles."—Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

“Thought- provoking…..an enjoyable dive into the cultural impact of a hypnotizingly beautiful color.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2023-02-25
An exploration of all things indigo.

In this thought-provoking work, Chang explains that she fell in love with the color blue while daydreaming as a child in Korea. She reminisces about “the strong shade of blue sky we called jjok” as well as the “darkest blue of all in the night sky during a camping trip in the woods.” When she moved to the United States as an adult, a friend gave her the seeds of an indigo plant—the source of the blue she has long admired in clothing like her hanbok. “Now I grow indigo plants with my friends on a little farm in the middle of Baltimore.” She explains how they plant seeds in seedling trays, replant them in the garden, harvest the plants, and extract the dye using ingredients such as calcium hydroxide. Chang touches on the cultural significance of indigo—to her friends, it means “community” or “the spirit and soul of my people.” But she notes that “indigo also has a painful past” and that many enslaved people were forced to work on indigo farms. As Chang and her friends harvest and share seeds, she reflects on the knowledge and joy she has found while working with the medium. An attractive stitched patchwork of indigo-dyed textiles is interspersed throughout the bright, intricately textured illustrations. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An enjoyable dive into the cultural impact of a hypnotizingly beautiful color. (more about indigo, jjok and Korean history, recipe for making indigo dye, a map of indigo plants around the world) (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews