American-Ghanaian writer and poet Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond visited ISB to talk with students in 3rd-5th Grade students about her book Blue: A History of the Color As Deep As the Sea and As Wide As the Sky. The picture book explores the complicated history and cultural significance of the color. During the Q&A, students explored their feelings about the color blue and its complex web of historical, spiritual, and economic interconnections. Students expressed a newfound understanding of the different meanings of blue. “Now I understand the connection of blue with sadness because of all the suffering and hard work that was necessary to produce it,” a 5th Grader shared. Nana explained: “Blue is as complicated as life. Related to beauty and magic, but also to sadness, suffering, and exploitation. Once blue was only for royalty and rich people, but thanks to science, it became available to all.” In the end, one student asked the author if she had any plans to write about a different color, and Nana confided to an excited assembly of ISB students that she is beginning to work on a book about the color yellow!
