A book bought in late 70s Australia (possibly UK published) picture book about a kingdom in black & white & wizard. Under the direction from the king who decides to make it colourful, first turns blue and everyone is miserable, then red and everyone is angry, then yellow everyone becomes ill. Eventually the magic goes crazy and the colours mix to give full pallet and all ends well.
Sounds like ‘The great blueness, and other predicaments’ by Arnold Lobel (1970) “Long ago there were no colors in the world at all. Almost everything was grey, and what was not grey was black or white. It was a time that was called The Great Greyness.” Lobel classic. In a time known as the Great Greyness, a wizard discovers the color blue in his laboratory. He soon realizes that Blueness is not so perfect either, and that more colors are needed to make the world so beautiful that it will never need to be changed again
Brilliant – thanks so much Melissa. That’s it! I’ve wanted to find it for years and now I can. I so loved the illustrations and am delighted to realise that the author was Arnold Lobel who wrote so many other favourites like Frog & Toad
The Great Blueness was reprinted in 2014 in a Dover book called The Arnold Lobel Treasury. I know, because I have read it to my grandchildren a zillion times. There are 4 great stories in the collection.