Lit Block Blog

Red: A Crayon's Story, written by Michael Hall, is about a crayon with a bright red label who answers to the name "Red". Red is struggling to color in the color of red. Red has the teacher,  grandmother, parents, and friends try to help him to be able to color in the color of Red. Some people even try to change him and alter his appearance to see if that will help him be a better red. After Red has given up on being a good red crayon, he meets a friend who asks him to color her a great big blue sky. After trying to color a sky, Red discovers that he is in fact a blue crayon and not red. After discovering who he truly is, he gets to be himself and show off his true color. This book would be a great book to read to your class to let them know that being different is not always a bad thing. It could also help them understand that not being able to do what people think you should be able to do, does not mean that you can't do anything right; it means that you just might be able to do something completely different and unexpected. After reading this book for shared reading, I would then tell the children that they will be writing about a time that they felt pressured to do something, or felt like they were pressured into changing. I will model by telling them about a time I felt pressured to change. After writing their responses, they can then share with the class (if they feel comfortable) what they wrote. This is a great story to use for Reading, and Writing lessons. I would say that you can use this book for Kindergarten through Third Grade.