Red: A Crayon's Story

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall is a wonderful picture book about a blue crayon that was wrongly labeled red.  Red at the beginning of the story is struggling to be red, as the authors says he's not very good at it.  Everyone tries to help him be red, his teacher, his mother, his grandparents, the masking tape, the scissors and even the crayon sharpener.  Everyone ends up having very strong opinions about his inability to be red.  Until one day he meets a new friend who sees him for what he actually is before he is even aware of it, he's a blue crayon.  Once he realized that he was indeed a blue crayon everyone was talking once again but this time about how fantastic he was.

This book is about identity and there is many different ways to interpret and use this book.  The author actually wrote it about being dyslexic.  I think it would also work wonderfully for LGBTQ identity issues.  I would also use it for teaching a single story or implied bias.  This delightful picture books has wonderful critical literacy value.

Red: A Crayon's Story
Written and Illustrated by: Michael Hall
Reviewed by: Emily Seefeldt