Actor Rihito Itagaki recently held a reading event at a nursery school to celebrate the release of his first picture book, "My Color" (Gakken). Itagaki planned the event with the desire to "make more children enjoy this picture book," and on the day of the event, approximately 20 pairs of children and their parents participated. Itagaki reflected, "If you don't work in a job like a nursery school teacher, you don't have the opportunity to interact with children. Even in a production, I didn't have the opportunity to interact with such young children, so it was a very valuable experience. They also gave me a song, which I was very touched by. It was a really wonderful time."
The theme of "My Color" is "being yourself." It tells the story of Nuru, a mysterious creature with a pure white body who lives in a colorful world and wonders, "Why am I the only one without color?", as he searches for his own color through various encounters. The digital picture book, which was released on the picture book submission site "Yomikase Canvas" in April of this year, has been revised and newly illustrated and released on November 6th.
At the event, Itagaki shared his thoughts, saying, "I made this picture book to convey that everyone will experience many things and will face many challenges as they grow into adults, but everyone is fine just the way they are. It's wonderful to be just the way we are." A total of 100 copies of the book were donated to the children at the nursery school where the event was held and at affiliated nurseries.
On this day, Itagaki became "Teacher Rihito" and interacted with the children through reading aloud, hand-play songs and coloring workshops. The children commented on "My Colors" with comments such as "Nuru (the character) was cute" and "Nuru's rainbow colors were beautiful," and Itagaki's reading was well received, with parents commenting, "I couldn't help but listen," and "I'd like to use this as reference for my regular reading aloud."
