This Book Is Gray

by Lindsay Ward, Lindsay Ward (Illustrator)

Overview

Gray just wants to be included. But the other colors are always leaving him out. So he decides to create his own project: an all-gray book. Once upon a time, there lived a wolf, a kitten, and a hippo…

Gray just knows it’s going to be perfect. But as he adds page after page, the Primary and Secondary colors show up…and they aren’t quite so complimentary.

A book within a book, this colorful tale explores the ideas of fitting in, appreciating others, and looking at things from another perspective and also uses personality and wit to introduce basic color concepts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542043403
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	12/01/2019
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	394,439
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	550L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Lindsay Ward is the creator of the Dexter T. Rexter series as well as Brobarians, Rosco vs. the Baby, and The Importance of Being 3. Her book Please Bring Balloons was also made into a play. Lindsay lives in Peninsula, Ohio, with her family. Gray is one of her favorite colors. Learn more about her online at www.lindsaymward.com.

Editorial Reviews

A 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist: Best Picture Books

“This book is a fun introduction to color theory that may inspire children to use more gray in their artwork and remind them to include friends who are left out.” —Booklist

“A colorful primer on relationships and how to complement one another.” —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

01/01/2020

K-Gr 2—Gray is miffed about the fact that primary and secondary colors get all of the attention. Feeling left out and tired of being typecast as a dull, gloomy, sad sack, he decides to create the "GRAYtest book ever." Gray spins a tale about a hippo, wolf, and kitten who live in a house by the sea, all presented in a completely muted palette. In metafictional fashion, a rainbow of colors barge into his story and offer their editorial opinions. Looking like triangular wedges from a color wheel, all of the hues in Ward's digital illustrations have distinct personalities and signature accessories: peppy, ponytailed Yellow has sunglasses perched on her head; Red wears a pom-pom hat and a sardonic expression; and Blue is a laid-back dude with a backwards ball cap. Dialogue bubbles capture the pun-filled, quick-witted banter that ricochets all across the pages as Gray tries to maintain control ("Just because I'm not a primary or secondary doesn't mean I'm not a color! Achromatics have feelings, too, ya know"), while his bolder pals throw shade ("What muted his hue?"). After an emotional plea for acceptance, the others finally see Gray's true colors, and they come up with a way to let him take center stage. VERDICT A colorful primer on relationships and how to complement one another.—Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ont.

School Library Journal

2019-07-23
A gray character tries to write an all-gray book.

The six primary and secondary colors are building a rainbow, each contributing the hue of their own body, and Gray feels forlorn and left out because rainbows contain no gray. So Gray—who, like the other characters, has a solid, triangular body, a doodle-style face, and stick limbs—sets off alone to create "the GRAYest book ever." His book inside a book shows a peaceful gray cliff house near a gray sea with gentle whitecaps; his three gray characters—hippo, wolf, kitten—wait for their arc to begin. But then the primaries arrive and call the gray scene "dismal, bleak, and gloomy." The secondaries show up too, and soon everyone's overrunning Gray's creation. When Gray refuses to let White and Black participate, astute readers will note the flaw: White and black (the colors) had already been included in the early all-gray spreads. Ironically, Gray's book within a book displays calm, passable art while the metabook's unsubtle illustrations and sloppy design make for cramped and crowded pages that are too busy to hold visual focus. The speech-bubble dialogue's snappy enough (Blue calls people "dude," and there are puns). A convoluted moral muddles the core artistic question—whether a whole book can be gray—and instead highlights a trite message about working together.

Low grade. (glossary) (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews