The Colour Thief
by Stephen Aitken & Sylvia Sikundar and illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat
“The Colour Thief” by Stephen Aitken and Sylvia Sikundar. Illustrations by Sandhya Prabhat and published by Tulika. A quaint fairy tale like story set in the mountains. A grouchy giant lived alone in a cave high up in the mountains. He was so used to living in the dark that he disliked colours.
When a sliver of sunlight slipped into his cave on a spring morning, he was not pleased at all. Spring was not his favourite time of the year given all the colours that sprouted with the onset of it. He decided to scoop out all the colours from the world. Taking his net, he swooped down into the forest first. He took away all the colours from the leaves of the trees, flowers, birds and all other creatures. All the colours were then dumped into a big black hole under the ground in his cave. He covered the hole with a huge stone slab. He then swooshed down into the ocean and scooped up all the colours from the fish and other creatures. He then scooped up the colours from the moon and the stars in the middle of the night.
Pleased with his work, the giant went to sleep happily planning to deal with the sun the next morning. What happened next? Did the giant’s plan work? Will all the colours be hidden in the giant’s cave forever? Will the giant realise the importance and beauty of colours? Who will help him see the world in a different way? Does he stop being grouchy? Read on to find out. The lovely illustrations show the difference between a brightly coloured world and a colourless one brilliantly. Enjoyed reading this charming story with my (then) six year old. Apt for children aged 5+. Thank you Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow for recommending this gem of a book!
Where to buy from?
You can buy the book from
The publishers Tulika books here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.
