Starting with the author's love of blue while an infant in Korea, to her community garden in present-day Baltimore, this book is a love letter to the color indigo and how we get the dye from a plant. Along the way while describing the process of planting the seeds and harvesting the leaves, the author also reminds readers that there is a painful past associated with indigo and a time when those who understood how to make the dye were enslaved and forced to work on indigo farms. Still there is much to admire in this beautiful color.

An autobiographical tale that also explains how to make indigo dye, MY INDIGO WORLD would fit in seamlessly for a lesson or activity on color or even tie-dye. Chang also utilizes the opportunity of this book to showcase her experience as a Korean immigrant, even taking the time to explain how indigo has a dark past with enslaved people and places that were colonized. Chang covers all this in an approachable and easily understandable way. MY INDIGO WORLD is packed full of interesting concepts, applications, and thoughts that all tie together very well. The back matter is detailed, but accessible and offers a variety of information for the reader.

This interesting book is part, biography, and part history of indigo. The author goes into how indigo is made, how green leaves become blue pigment, and how indigo has been used throughout the world. While this is not a book, I want to read every night for story time it is a very interesting book that will teach children something about where the colors of the world come from.

Well, this immediately got me asking in my local Buy Nothing group to see if anyone nearby has some woad to try out my own indigo dying! This book covers everything you’d need to do a little indigo experiment yourself, as well as explaining the world history (good and bad) and personal history of the author with this craft and art.

The artwork here is fascinating. Backgrounds are primarily fabric, mostly woven, and mostly in shades of blue. It does make the world seem a little flat, but that’s fine. It’s the vision that’s important. People and more detailed sections are done in watercolors, and perhaps the pencil watercolor type? There’s a certain pencil art quality here that’s very earthy.

Set this book up for a little science unit on dyeing and chemical reactions. Kids will be fascinated to see their fabric change from plain white to green to a final, beautiful blue.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

This was a lovely book on the tradition of indigo dyeing. I do think it was a bit dry and sometimes too clinical in its language, but it was a lovely book nonetheless, and I am sure people will be interested in how the color blue is used so beautifully in the illustrations.

I’ve always known that indigo was a dye that came from plants, but I never even stopped to think about how it was extracted from them. When I came across My Indigo World, and saw what it was about, I knew that my daughter would enjoy reading it, as well as me. We read it together last night, and both of us found it quite interesting.
Apparently, blue is a favorite color in Korea. Rosa Chang grew up in Korea, where she was surrounded by blue, but she never grew indigo until she lived in the United States as an adult. With friends, she began growing the indigo plant in the middle of Baltimore. As the plants grow through the summer, they harvest the leaves and extract the blue dye. Then, the people who helped grow the indigo each dye cloth in their own designs.
After the story, there are several pages of additional information. The four plants from which indigo dye is extracted are described. One two-page spread talks about the significance of indigo in Korean culture. Finally, there are instructions for two more methods of extracting the color, in addition to the one described in the story.
I found My Indigo World quite fascinating. As I said at the beginning, I had never even wondered about where indigo dye came from. I’ve read about it in various books about people in the 18th and 19th centuries, who would purchase blocks of it from itinerant peddlers, for instance. Now, I know where the dye comes from and how it is made!
This is a beautiful picture book. It is illustrated with both watercolor paintings and pictures of dyed textiles. This would be a perfect gift for anyone who loves gardening, crafts, or art.
I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

This book is beautiful. My son loves the color blue just like the main character in the book. I adored how this book not only taught about the indigo plant, but it also taught the reader about some Korean culture and history. The illustrations blended seamlessly and had the feeling of a nature journal. Lastly, the book provided hands on activities that the reader could do to continue learning about indigo. I think this book would make a great addition to my homeschool books.

My Indigo World by Rosan Chang is an artistic picture book about indigo color.

The author was born in Korea and was fascinated by the color blue. A friend gave her an indigo plant after she moved to the United States. The author planted indigo seeds, and that was the start of a career filled with passion. The book also shared the process of making indigo color. I found the world indigo map interesting. There is also a Korean history of the indigo color. The watercolor illustrations are beautiful.

My Indigo World is the perfect STEAM book to read this Spring; plant indigo and color your favorite garment blue.

This was an enthralling recollection and collective piece about the ways in which we see the world. I appreciated the connective link that the author found between her lived experiences across the globe and all of the folk she met throughout. I hope that this book gets the love it deserves.

A young Korean girl plants indigo seeds in the community garden near her new American home, learning how to grow and harvest the plants. As she dives into the history of indigo dyeing, she discovers how this tradition connected communities but also has a long history of forced labour. You can explore nature, traditions, community, first-person narrative, and knowledge through My Indigo World.

This is a gorgeous nonfiction picture book that is perfect for students in mid to late elementary and middle grades to learn about the history of indigo. The facts are presented in this are informative, interesting and fun.

I especially enjoyed the art in this book. The multiple mediums provided such a wonderful texture to every page like if you ran your finger over it the page wouldn’t just be smooth. The colors are beautiful and will catch any student’s eye. This would be a great addition to both school and public library juvenile nonfiction collection. I can see myself recommending this for many different research projects.

This is a great book to open up conversations about how big and diverse our world is. Written for children ages 4-8, this non-fiction picture book tells a story of how indigo is used around the world to create beautiful and useful things we see all around us. Not just a story, the Author's Note at the end gives more context for indigo's history around the world and the varying textures images throughout illustrate its many varied uses, and recipes make the knowledge they're learning accessible by encouraging them to try it for themselves.

I love the hands on approach to storytelling and the honesty shared. Probably better for those on the older side of the 4-8 spectrum, but accessible to all ages.

I thought My Indigo World was pretty fascinating as I didn’t know where blue dye came from or what the process looked like. It also had cool art in it that looked like paintings and pictures of different textures.

I love this book! I learned a lot as an adult and it has peaked my curiosity to find out even more. Blue is one of my favourite colours so how fun it will be to trace more of the history of the colour and its effect on community living across the world.

The author, a Korean American young girl, receives a handful of indigo plant seeds from a friend. She plants them the next morning in her garden and learns how to grow, harvest, and use the leaves to make dye for clothing and materials. She expounds on the fact that people around the world have been growing indigo plants for centuries.


Now the author cultivates these magical plants with her friends on a little farm in the middle of Baltimore. She carefully explains the growing process and how the colour blue is extracted from the leaves. It's truly fascinating. I had no idea.

The book is very comprehensive on the subject and would be a great book to add to a classroom and elementary school library. It will spark conversations and interesting knowledge regarding art, nature, entrepreneurship, business and history. This non-fiction, all-encompassing book will inspire kids to follow their dreams, stoke their imagines, be creative and experience dreams coming to fruition. The illustrations are beautiful and marry the text perfectly. I highly recommend "My Indigo World"!

I can't wait to add this book to our collection! What a lovely combination of history, community, and intersectionality. Chang skillfully weaves the three to create a non-fiction book that takes the reader through the history of indigo across the world, including both the light and dark aspects of its history, while also guiding us through the process of creating indigo dye. Absolutely fantastic!

I thought that this was a good book and the illustrations were lovely, they really suited the story and brought it to life!

I loved the way that this story was told. My Indigo World tells the story about a Korean American, who receives indigo plant seeds as a child and from there discovers more about this fascinating plant and its uses.

She learns how to grow indigo seeds and its cycle from harvesting the seeds and using the leaves to make a dye for clothing. The book focuses on the way that indigo has brought communities together but it also touches on the darker side of the forced work to get the dye in times gone by.

It is 4 stars from me for this one, highly recommended and I learnt a lot more than I expected as an adult too which is always a plus with this kind of book!

I can think of many children's books focused on the color blue -- many of them talking about calming feelings or the ocean. This book adds to the collection of books focused on the color blue, but from a very different angle -- STEM (nature/natural world), art, community, and culture.

My Indigo World focuses on the author, a Korean American, who receives indigo plant seeds as a kid and discovers the magic of the plant. She learns how to grow indigo seeds, then harvest the leaves, and finally uses them to dye clothes and repeat the cycle. She talks about how indigo has brought her community together and how they farm together.

I learned a lot from this book about a plant I never thought much about. I now want to look up indigo seeds and see if I should grow a few plants next spring to discover the magic of indigo. This book would make a fun addition to an elementary or even upper grades classroom library to talk about art and nature, business and nature, or other related topics.