$red a crayon$

According to her, their conversation got into some interesting territory. He’s blue! And once that’s clear, everything else falls into place.Ī school librarian friend of mine discussed this book with some school age children not too long ago. In spite of what his wrapper might say, he isn’t red at all. It really isn’t until a new crayon asks him to paint a blue sea that he comes to the shocking realization. Maybe he’s got to press harder or be sharper. Maybe he needs to mix with the other kids more (only, when he does his orange turns out to be green instead). But he wasn’t very good at it.” When a blue crayon in a wrapper labeled “Red” finds himself failing over and over again, everyone around him has an opinion on the matter. Clever and wry, Hall dips a toe into moral waters and comes out swimming. But that point is made with a gentle hand and an interesting story, giving the reader the not unpleasant sensation that even if they didn’t get the point of the tale on a first reading, something about the book has seeped deep into their very core. What a relief then to run across Red: A Crayon’s Story.

But for every Sophie there are a hundred didactic tracts that some poor child somewhere is being forced to swallow dry. Really Really Angry works because the point of the book is couched in beautiful, lively, eye-popping art, and a story that shows rather than tells. Instruction, however, is a terribly difficult thing to do in a children’s book. Even parents who are sure to fill their shelves with the subversive naughtiness of Max, David, and Eloise are still inclined to indulge in a bit of subterfuge bibliotherapy when their little darling starts biting / hitting / swearing at the neighbors. Pinocchio stretches the truth a little and ends up with a prominent proboscis. Peter Rabbit takes an illicit nosh and loses his fancy duds. Why who can forget that catchy little 1730 ditty from The Childe’s Guide that read, “The idle Fool / Is whipt at School”? It’s got a beat and you can dance to it! And as the centuries have passed children’s books continue to teach and instruct.

Greenwillow (an imprint of Harper Collins)Īlmost since their very conception children’s books were meant to teach and inform on the one hand, and to inform one’s moral fiber on the other.

Red a crayon's story