Red: A Crayon's Story

Author: Michael Hall

Illustrator: Michael Hall

Grade level: Preschool to 3rd

Summary:

Red: A Crayon’s Story is about a blue crayon that was mislabeled as red. Everyone, including his teacher, parents, grandparents, and friends could not see past his label.Red crayon tried to color strawberries, but they were inevitably blue. His grandparents thought that he needed to look more warm, so they gave him a red scarf when he had to draw a self -portrait for parents’ night. That self- portrait did not look red either. When he tried to mix colors with yellow to make an orange, they ended up making a big greenish one! All the other colors tried to convince Red that he is red just because of the label. The art supplies tried to help Red by cutting, sharpening, and taping him. Then, Red met Purple who asked him to color a big blue ocean for his purple boat. Red said that he couldn’t because he is red. Purple asked him to try anyways, and Red drew the perfect blue ocean for Purple! Red went on to draw a blue whale, blue jeans, blueberries, and everything blue. “I’m BLUE!” the Red crayon exclaimed. Other colors praised Red, and talked about all of his beautiful artwork.

Element 1: Self- love and Knowledge

Red: A Crayon’s Story teaches children about self knowledge and self- love. Red, who is not really red, was miserably trying to be something he was not. All the other colors were trying to convince Red that he was red just because of his misrepresented label. Purple brought Red a new perspective and asked him to do something that Red thought that he couldn’t do. Red built up the courage to draw a big blue ocean. Then, Red figured out that he is really blue! With the help of Purple, Red was able to be true to his inner self. This book is about a crayon’s journey to self discovery. This book can raise some essential questions to students such as “Do you know who you are?” or “How do you know who you are, even if others tell you differently?”

Activity: 

This book may introduce concepts of identity, including gender identity, to students. Identity, and self- knowledge are both something that students of all grades hope to find. This book can help students learn how to listen and pay attention to their inner- self instead of listening or living by what others say. For further understanding, I would have students draw a self- portrait (just like Red!). Once the students have finished, on the back, they would write something about themselves that other students wouldn’t know about them by just looking at their appearance. I would model this by preparing my own self- portrait, but not give them an example of what to write on the back since we want 100% creativity from our students! Then, I would have the students do a gallery walk, and explore different fun facts about their classmates. At the end of the gallery walk, I hope my students have a better understanding of how we are all much more than what others can see. 

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