Michael Hall's (Perfect Square) smart, insightful coming-of-age story for youngest readers stars Red, a mislabeled crayon, who discovers his true self.
An unseen narrator wielding a pencil introduces the hero--"He was red"--above a crayon clearly marked "Red" but showing a pointy blue tip under its red wrappings. "But he wasn't very good at it," the pencil continues, as the blue fellow marked "Red" draws a blue fire engine (readers can tell from its ladders and hoses). "Oh dear," remarks Olive, whose wrappings match her name. Red's teacher thinks he "needed more practice," but his strawberries come out blue ("Oh my! Let's try again," says Scarlet). When his grandparents believe he's "not warm enough," Silver hands the hero a red scarf, but his self-portrait still comes out blue. Red's classmates have their theories: Amber says, "Sometimes I wonder if he's really red at all," and Hazelnut answers, "Don't be silly. It says red on his label." Hall's clever use of crayons as metaphors allows children to explore examples of situations where people may have been labeled by categories: by religion, race, culture or gender. The other crayons aren't critical of Red, just close-minded in their tireless efforts to aid in his conformity.
Youngest children will find humor in Red's attempts to match his label (he draws a series of blue hearts, cherries and foxes), and be pleased when he meets "Berry," who asks the hero to make an ocean for his boat, and helps Red discover, "I'm blue!" --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness