A review by dragonbitebooks
One by Kathryn Otoshi

3.0

I appreciate Otoshi's message and her ability to convey lessons of anti-bullying, colors, and numbers all at once, though I'm also not sure how I feel how I feel about the colors changing their shapes to reflect "1," and it is maybe delivered a little high-handedly. Kids need to hear about the power of standing up to a bully and need to know that offering comfort without confronting the problem may not be enough to help the one being bullied. The simplicity of Otoshi's illustrations is endearing. I particularly like the colors; as I mentioned, something about the change into numbers rubs me wrongly, though I do understand the idea: that the colors have become more (a color and a number) by standing up to the bully, Red (but were they not then good enough as they were?). I can't say that this is a particularly enjoyable book--not in the way that Mo Willems' books are enjoyable--but it is important, a book that should be read in classrooms and stocked on library shelves. This is one I'd like to rate 3 1/2 if the option were allowed.