Color vs. Black and White

I'll be attending the SCBWI conference this year in Los Angeles, and I've signed up for the illustrator's intensive. They gave us a homework assignment to take a drawing from the existing portfolio and to reimagine it: night to day, before to after, color to monochrome, etc. Since I'm revamping my portfolio this year to be all in color, as the last one I presented there was all black and white, I decided to redo a favorite drawing in color, to see how it would compare.  

Below: The original black and white drawing of Hans-My-Hedgehog. You can see the original blog post about it by clicking here.

After the last SCBWI, I had a portfolio review with Caldecott medalist Paul O. Zelinsky. He suggested that I consider my portfolio pieces as pages from a book, and incorporate the text. He used Hans as an example:

So this time around, I wanted to simplify the picture to make room for the words of the fairytale.  I kept the background a stark white to allow the colors to sing.  What do you think, color or black and white? 

Below: "Hans-My-Hedgehog (Color)" by Jessica Boehman. Colored pencil, pencil, gouache. copyright 2015. 

UPDATE: After the SCBWI Illustrator Intensive assignment review, my piece was chosen for critique. The panel, which consisted of illustrators, art directors, and agents, suggested that similar values in parts of the drawing, like in the bagpipe and in Hans' leg, could obscure the details, so I made some changes based on their suggestions. Thank you, ladies! Do you see the changes?