“Anna’s Saturdays are yellow.
All day she is bathed in the colour of soft sunshine.
Saturday feels as welcoming as a patch of warm sunlight to a kitten.”
Anna experiences the world a little differently. Sounds make her mouth water; names and days have colours. She is a synaesthete.
Mondays Are Apple Green is a lyrical, eye-opening picture book which explores the unusual merging of the senses experienced by people with synaesthesia, presented in an engaging way that young children can understand. Anna’s story is beautifully and authentically told by award-winning author and synaesthete Louise Greig, with vivid imagery from illustrator Maria Luisa Petrarcha.
We chat to the author Louise Greig to learn about the inspiration behind Mondays Are Apple Green.
Synaesthesia? Tell us more!
Synaesthesia is an intriguing condition where the senses get mixed up in often very unusual and myriad ways.
I have had synaesthesia all my life. When I tried to explain it to others as I was growing up nobody seemed to understand what I meant. It was not until the internet arrived that I discovered it is a recognised condition experienced by a minority. I think it is a condition that is under-represented in children’s picture books and the mysterious and often (though not always) delightful ways in which it can present itself seems to lend itself to a picture book.
So, your own experience was the inspiration for Anna’s story, can you tell us a bit more about your synaesthesia?
I cannot approach synaesthesia from a scientific point of view, but from what I have read on this endlessly fascinating subject is that it’s a neurological phenomenon which always begins in early childhood which seems to indicate that it occurs at the brain’s developmental stage. I can only explain it as a ‘crossing over of the senses’ where one sense automatically triggers another involuntarily – a crossing of wires. When the brain activates one sense it mistakenly allows other sensory processing to activate. Because there are five main senses there are, by definition, endless presentations of how they can combine!
My synaesthesia presents predominantly as visual so that whenever I hear or read a word, name, day of the week, or month, country, or city, or even numbers a colour instantly flashes up. It is so embodied in my daily life that I cannot separate it out. For example, Tuesday flashes up a sparkly silver colour — my Tuesdays are imbued with this colour, all day, along with a feeling of sparkly shininess – this never changes no matter what is happening in my life. A synaesthete’s sense combination experience is set in stone from the moment it appears in childhood. It never changes and is there for life.
What’s your favourite moment in the book and why?
I love that every spread offers a different perspective on synaesthesia. I especially love that each day is imbued with a different colour which is common for synaesthetes. The illustrator Maria Luisa Petrarca took a very difficult subject to portray and depicted it so beautifully and, in my mind, perfectly. Thursday feels particularly special to me wrapped in deep red like a secret which is how my Thursdays feel. But I am mindful that every synaesthete has different sense experiences. Many see the days of the week in colour but not everyone’s Thursday will be red!
I do hope that this book will open up interesting conversations about what the senses are and the topsy turvy way that they might combine together in synaesthetes. It also gives readers another example of how people experience the world in different ways.
‘A beautifully written account of synaesthesia in childhood, bringing this inner world to life with warmth and accuracy. In giving these experiences a clear and recognisable form, the book supplies something many synaesthetic children might not have; confirmation that their perceptions are real and shared by others.’
– Duncan Carmichael, Lecturer in Psychology, Edinburgh Napier University‘Normalises and celebrates synaesthesia and neurodiversity, helping young readers and their parents to understand and accept cross-sensory experiences as a unique and special gift.’
– James Wannerton, President of the UK Synaesthesia Association
About the creatives
Louise Greig is a multi-award winning poet and author born in Scotland. She has featured on the shortlist for several major children’s book awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Louise’s picture books include The Island and the Bear and Home of the Wild (both Floris Books) and Kate Greenaway-nominated The Night Box (Egmont). She lives in Aberdeen, Scotland with her husband.
Maria Luise Petrarca is an Italian illustrator and character designer. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples before pursuing illustration and concept art at the Italian Comix School. Maria has illustrated several children’s books. She lives in the Campania region of Italy.
By the same author
Home of the Wild
Louise Greig; Illustrated by Júlia Moscardó
A lyrical and uplifting story about a friendship between a boy and a wild fawn, with a tender message of love and letting wild animals be free. Atmospheric illustrations bring the authentic Scottish landscapes to life.
The Island and the Bear
Louise Greig; Illustrated by Vanya Nastanlieva
One morning on a wild and quiet Hebridean island, a bear appeared where there should not have been a bear. The gentle giant would not harm a living thing. But even friendly bears don’t belong on Scottish islands. Will he ever find his way home?
