Seeing Orange

Orca Echoes

by Sara Cassidy

Seven-year-old Leland has trouble writing, but he loves drawing. He so dislikes his teacher that he conjures up Delilah, an imaginary seeing-eye dog to help him into class each day. When a neighborhood painter recognizes Leland's gifts as an artist, Leland grows more confident about the world as he uniquely sees it. And when his family's cat goes missing, it is Leland's keen observation skills that lead to finding him. Leland's newfound confidence helps him both confront and sympathize with his teacher, who only wishes Leland could be a bit more focused.

64 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

About the author

Sara Cassidy is an award-winning Canadian author of 20 acclaimed books for children and teens. Her early novel GENIUS JOLENE won the 2020 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. Her middle-grade novel NEVERS was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award in Young People's Literature and the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Two novels appeared on Kirkus's Best Middle Grade Books of 2018 and 2016: THE GREAT GOOGLINI and A BOY NAMED QUEEN.

She is the author of the highly praised picture book FLOCK, and the wordless graphic novels KUNOICHI BUNNY and HELEN'S BIRDS, a 2021 Canadian selection for the Silent Books Collection (IBBY). Her board books include I MAKE SPACE, about creating boundaries, THE SUN IS A PEACH and THE MOON IS A SILVER POND, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Sara lives on Vancouver Island and loves to visit classrooms over Zoom/Skype/Teams. sarascassidy@gmail.com

Reviews

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of Seeing Orange made me see red. It demonstrates the damaging effect a teacher can have on a young boy. Seven year old Leland is an artist and a dreamer. His teacher makes him stay in at recess day after day because he does not complete his work. This makes him sad. Leland dreads going to school because he feels incompetent. His imaginary dog helps him act bravely. An artist in the neighbor sees Leland's talent and gives him art lessons. This helps his confidence and self-esteem so he does not need the imaginary dog any more. By the end of the story Mr. Carling and Leland agree that the teacher will be more patient and the student will try harder to finish his work.
I would recommend this story to teachers as well as students. It reminds us of the power our words and actions have over young people.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leland is struggling in his second grade class. He has a really hard time putting words on paper. He would much rather express himself by drawing or painting. Life gets even more frustrating when his orange tabby cat, Pumpkin, disappears. The only bright spot in his day is his art lessons from a neighbor. She teaches him about more than painting. From her he learns to really look at things and that it is okay to see things differently than other people. His new found perspective helps him find old friends and new friends in unexpected places. This is a great book for 2nd-4th graders who might be experiencing similar attention problems.

[Jules Hucke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just fabulous. It chronicles the awakening of an artistic mind by following a 7-year-old boy through the easy-flowing mechanics of metaphorical thought, showing the reader his world in a spare but bright swirl of colors and similes. Reading it as a 35-year-old metaphorical thinker, I project what the future Leland will be like if he receives the encouragement and support every artist needs--or if he doesn't. Very cool little book. Good job, Miz Cassidy!

[Teresa Lavender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow - what a wonderful book! I won this here on goodreads and couldn't be more pleased. Having taught school for many years I have to say this is a must read not only for the children, but for the teacher's too. Brought a tear to my eye. Thank you Sara for writing such a sensitive, insightful story.

[Lois Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids really enjoyed this. Read it to them tonight as a bedtime story! I have two 7 yr olds. A added bonus for them was the moment they realized the story was set right here in Victoria when they recognized our Goldstream Park!

[S.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful book about a delightful little boy,

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title "Seeing Orange" is, as a phrase, a play on "seeing red", which means to be very angry. Seven-year old Leland does "see red" at one point in this book, but mostly he sees orange - many shades of orange: persimmon, apricot, seagull feet, flag pole rust, school bus orange, and more. Leland loves to draw and wonder about the things he sees; in fact, his imagination makes it difficult to focus at school, especially when it’s time to write.

I wrote this book at a time when I was thinking about what we increasingly call learning disabilities; I have long felt terrible about my own distractability and wanted to find a way to accept it. I was interested in learning differences and in natural abilities that aren't recognised.

Seeing Orange is about how each of us interprets the world differently. As long as we get to a point of seeing, really seeing (not just looking) - in our own way - then we are doing all right. Each of us has a language with which to speak about the world. This book has a language, too. I wanted it to be lyrical and I tried to stuff it with metaphor, that wonderful machine that lets us express how things appear to us.