Colours in object books for first readers

Abstract

Conceived a priori as objects that aims to be globally cohesive, several books that have the child as their potential addressee take bold forms, with surprising bindings, as well as using interactive and playful materials, consummate additions in sensory pleasing artifacts, almost irresistible to touch and purchase. Endowed with a set of visually eye-catching properties, typical of very diverse artistic domains, such as sculpture, architecture, or theatre, among others, object books attract readers of different ages and literacy stages, being frequent, when designed for young children, placing them at the service of learn-ing first concepts and routines or acquiring (in)formative knowledge. Since colours are one of the most common formal contents – let's call it this way – in children's editions, we begin this brief study with some considerations about this element or content, and then proceed to the analysis of a textual corpus which exemplify the theme of the topic in question, seeking to point out the main verbal-iconic and graphic singularities of these object-books fundamentally focused on playful and visually stimulating and accessible colour translation, specifically for pre-readers and initial readers, as an originally complex and subjective phenomenon.