Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall
A blue crayon labeled as red is not very good at being red at all. His fire trucks were all wrong. He thought more practice might help, but his strawberries didn’t look anything like Scarlet’s. When he tried to mix with other colors, like Yellow to make orange, it turned very green on him. His parents tried to warm him up with a scarf, but it didn’t work either. Everyone had advice for him, like just trying harder or sharpening himself to a new point. Nothing made any difference. Then he made a new friend who asked him to make an ocean for her boat to sail on. Red protested at first because oceans aren’t red, but then agreed to try. And suddenly he realized that he had been blue all along!
Told in symbolism that children will immediately understand, this book works on a variety of levels. It can inspire children to be who they really are on the inside and to be true to that and not the labels that society puts on you. Others will read it as a metaphor for being gay or transgendered and I think it works beautifully for that as well. Perhaps the best praise that can be given this book is that it can mean so many different things to people.
Hall’s artwork is simple and lovely. His various crayons are different heights and have wonderful color names that range from more normal colors to “Cocoa Bean” and “Hazelnut” and “Grape.” They all have something to say too, helpful and not-so-helpful alike. But they are Red’s community and children will see in them things that are said to people who are different in some way.
A celebration of inner diversity, this picture book is all about accepting and celebrating our differences. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.