A Taste of COLORED Water

Title: A Taste of Colored Water

Author and Illustrator: Matt Faulkner

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary: It is about two children named Jelly and LuLu in small country that they heard from a friend, Abbey Finch that there is a colored water in the big city. So they went to big city with his uncle and they didn't know anything about the Civil Rights. So they didn't expect to see racial violence between protesting black people and police.

Literacy: This book is a historical fiction because it includes two children who were curious about the colored water. The book also includes protests, violence, and segregation. It was in 1960’s during the Civil Rights. The setting was originally in smaller city where the children never saw any segregation or oppression to black people. The bigger city shows the segregation. The characters in the book are Lulu, Jelly (the two children), Uncle Jack, Abbey Finch, policemen, and black people protesting in the background. It is well developed for young readers to understand. It is well illustrated. The plot is fascinating for the readers to understand from children’s point of view. The young readers could apply their curiosity to new facts. It is visible in text and illustrations. It is progressive book where the children went through the adventure in the big city. The theme is racial segregation, oppression, and racial tensions. It is hard for children to understand why the segregation was occurring. The child asked, “What color does a person have to be to drink colored water?” The point is well identified. Its style is first person point of view. (LuLu’s) The book also includes metaphors and dialogues, which shows rich language.

Evaluation: I really like this book because of first person point of view. It has really colorful illustrations that looked like cartoon in some way. In my opinion, it resemblances to the TV cartoon show “The Winnie Pooh”. It makes the book even more interesting. I like the plot because it has the hook to the readers when the children were curious about the colored water. I believe that the author has meaning behind it. The children didn’t understand why there is such colored water if it looks normal water. It applies the same concept with humans. Maybe only thing I would like to see more of is the segregation itself because the book doesn’t show the emotions the protestors felt. The faces aren’t shown. What does the author really mean to write the book for all of us as the readers? Overall, I would read this to my future students someday because they will learn about oppression, segregation, and racial tensions.