Little Blue and Little Yellow
Author & Illustrator: Leo Lionni
Grade Level: K-2
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Summary
This is the story of two best friends: little blue and little yellow. They go to school and play everyday with their friends, until one day little Blue and little Yellow can't find one another. Finally, they reunite and the two friends Little Blue and Little Yellow share a harmless hug and turn into.....little GREENS! They go home and are rejected by their parents who do not recognize their own children after their change. Not wanted in their own homes little blue and little yellow meet again and cry until their tears change them back to their original colors. Little blue runs to explain everything to his parents who are so overjoyed that they go running across the street to tell little yellow's parents. Then their parents end up hugging until they themselves turn green.
How would I use the book
This is a valuable book that could be used as a great tool on friendship. It shows how friends are influenced by each other and how they adapt to each others's nature and culture." little of you rubs off on your friend and a little of your friends rub off on you". This book shows that no matter how much you change on the outside you will always be the same on the inside. It also explains that friendship is not based on one's color but on the positive and valuable nature of that person.
Domains of Social Justice
This story reflects the second and third elements of social justice:
2- Respect for Others: Strengthens intercultural competence
Students learn that there is nothing wrong with being friends with people who are different and that is also okay to be different yourself.
3. Exploring Issues of Social Justice: Racism, classism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression are confronted
Students see how even little blue and little yellow's parents reacted to their own children because they were different. But then see how they learned to accept that difference and even became different themselves.
Little Blue and Little Yellow was one of my favorite books as a child and had a profound impact on me, one that I never forgot growing up. The idea that two very different things could combine was itself amazing, but that they could happily produce something that was the best of both of them without being exactly like either of them was endlessly provocative and pleasurable. While I didn’t realize it them, that little children’s book helped make me anti-racist. Given his name, I never guessed that its author, Leo Lionni, was Jewish.
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