Red// Sparkle Boy

Overview: Red and Sparkle boy are two completely unique children's picture books that offer insight into the concept of identity. What defines identity? What makes you, you?

Keep reading to find out how I interpreted these two stories and what story I connected to them.

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Synopsis

Red: Red, written and illustrated by Michael Hall, explores the identity of a 'Red' crayon. Before the story begins, you can see that the cover of the book shows us that this crayon is a little different; it has a red label with the word 'red' in text on the label, but the actual color of the crayon is... BLUE!

Even though we can see the crayon's true colors, the other crayons and the 'Red' crayon himself, can see that he isn't good at portraying his true color. He tried drawing a red firetruck; it turned out blue. His teacher thought he could learn from his peers and try drawing a strawberry with the color 'Scarlet'; it turned out blue. His parents even thought he needed some new friends, so he tried becoming friends with yellow. They tried drawing an orange; it turned out green! Even his grandparents thought he could use some 'warming up'. When 'Red' drew himself, he drew himself blue. All of the other crayons had opinions about why he was different and what was wrong with him. There was no magic 'fix' for 'Red'. The confusion of 'Red''s color even got other supplies involved; he was taped, snipped, and sharpened, but nothing worked. One day, a 'Berry' good crayon friend, asked 'Red' to draw a blue ocean. At first, Red was confused because he is NOT blue. . . or so he thought. He created the most beautiful blue ocean. Then he created blueberries, blue-jeans, and a beautiful blue sky. Now all of the crayons share their opinions about how brilliant he blue crayon is.

Sparkle Boy:

Sparkle Boy, written by Lesléa Newman, is a story about a young girl learning how gender stereotypes affect her view of the world and of her brother. Jessie, the older sister to Casey, has many shimmery, sparkly things such as bracelets, skirts, and nails painted with polish. She enjoys all of the things that make her feel shiny and like a "girl', but she doesn't want her brother to enjoy those things as well. Jessie doesn't udnerstand why her brother wants to dress and have things that 'girls' use/wear, so she talks with her parents about 'compromises' that can be made about Casey's appearance; there are no compromises in Casey's mind.

Jessie continues to be frustrated and judgmental of her brother, until they go to the library one day. A girl called Casey a 'girl', and even though he said "I am not a girl." he was still bullied by local teenage boys at the library. It wasn't until Jessie was able to see the injustice that occurs based on gender stereotypes that she was able to change her mindset towards her brother. From now on, Jessie and Casey continue to be sparkly, glittery, and shimmery together.

Author/ Illustrators:

Red

Author and Illustrator: Michael Hall

Website: https://www.michaelhallstudio.com/about/about.html

Michael Hall, author and illustrator of Red, is an award winning artist, specifically in graphic design. Michael first began using art when he was young due to his dyslexia. Art was a way to express writing through pictures.

Currently, Michael lives in Michigan with his family. He has written many other books such as My Heart is like a Zoo, Cat Tale, It's an Orange Aardvark, Little i, Frankencrayon, Wonderfall, Monkey Time, Perfect Square, and Swing. All of these books display Michael's artistic talent. Many of his illustrations use commonly known shapes to portray his stories. However, the story Red, is more of a free-hand type of art because the illustrations are non-geometric. Except for the crayons themselves.

When Michael was writing Red, he wasn't thinking of a deeper meaning that the story portrays. However, as Michael began writing and thinking of the story line of the Red crayon, he was able to see the similarities between his own personal story and that of the Red crayon. As previously mentioned, Michael Hall is dyslexic and he, and other people with different abilities, are often 'mislabeled'. It is easy to see how one can see them self or others in his work.. . we are all mislabeled at one point or another. The previous paragraph was inspired by an interview by Michael Hall. Please READ! https://www.michaelhallstudio.com/books/bk_red.html

Michael Hall stated, "I hope Red will inspire reflection about the subtle ways children become mislabeled, judging children based on their successes rather than their failures, and the unmitigated joy of finding one’s place in the world."

The following is a list of awards that Red has received: Booklist Best Picture Books 2015 Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice 2016 Cybils Awards nominee 2016 E.B. White Read-aloud Award finalist 2016 Goodreads Choice Award 2015 Irma Black Award finalist 2016 Midwest Booksellers’ Choice Award finalist 2015 Minnesota Book Award Finalist 2016 Minnesota Star of the North Award 2016 Rainbow List 2016

Sparkle Boy

Author: Lesléa Newman Website: https://lesleanewman.com/ Sparkle Boy, written by Lesléa Newman, details a story about a young boy who just wants "sparkles, sparkles, sparkles." Her book raises many questions about the definition of gender, gender expression, and gender identity.

Lesléa has written many books and won a vast number of awards. When asked about her inspiration for writing Sparkle Boy she says,

“If you had nothing to rebel against and nothing to conform to, who would you be?” That got me thinking about the “rules” that our society dictates that are harmful to us all, including notions about gender. I wrote Sparkle Boy in hopes that it will add to the discussion about the wide spectrum of gender expression. There is no “right” way to be. There are as many ways to express gender as there are people in the world and we all deserve the freedom to be whoever we want."

Speaking of Identity. . .

Lesléa, actually came up with her own name. She combined her American name (Leslie) and her Hebrew name (Leah) to come up with the unique name,Lesléa. A name holds so much identity, so her hers definitely sets her apart from others.

As a young adult, Lesléa used to write for Seventeen Magazine, which jump started her writing career. [ Side note, I used to read Seventeen Magazine as a young girl. So I feel like I know her. This magazine gave me so much insight in how to transition into being a teenager.] She grew up in New York and later moved to Massachusetts, where she lives with her wife. Awards for Sparkle Boy:

Finalist, International School of Beijing Panda Book Awards, 2019-2020

Honor Book, Massachusetts Book Awards, 2018

Bank Street College of Education Best Books of the Year List, 2018

Honor Book, Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature Irma Black Award, 2018

Storytelling World Resource Award Honors Title, 2018

llustrator: Maria Mola

Website: https://mariamola.com/

Maria Mola is the illustrator for Sparkle Boy. Maria uses a combination of pencil and digital illustrations to create a colorful, vibrant story.

Check out her illustrations from other books! I included the Cover of Sparkle Boy for you to compare and contrast on your own with her other illustrations.

Artistic Media

Red by Michael Hall has illustrations that look like they could be drawn by a young elementary-aged child! It is one of the aspects of this story that makes it so relatable. According to Michael Hall's book, "The art consists of digitally combined and colored crayon drawings and cut paper." Therefore, he actually used crayon while coloring for his book. This book consisted of what appeared to look like pencil writing, which was used to present the narrated text, computer-typed Arial font to narrate the comments of other crayons and specific vocabulary, and of course crayons to display the different illustrations Red made.

The following images are from Red by Michael Hall.

As you look through the slideshow of the different ways Michael incorporates colors. I found that he also explored the concept of creating colors. For example, when Red and Yellow were trying to make an orange, they made a big greenish one; blue and yellow make green! Thus, expanding on the concept of colors would be a way to incorporate more art into the discussion of this book. I found it interesting that one one of the pages in the book, not pictured above, Michael smears the crayon. This is on the page that has a traffic light and text that reads, " he just couldn't get the hang of it." In my opinion, smearing the crayon was intentional and almost makes it look like Red was 'dragging his feet" because he just couldn't be who the other crayons wanted him to be, or it could represent tears making the crayon smear.

Moreover, using crayon to display his illustrations would make children relate to this book in a different way that if it was illustrated with watercolor, shapes etc.; crayons are introduced at a young age, so using crayons is a way to appeal to a younger audience.

Comparatively, Sparkle Boy, illustrated by Maria Mola, has a completely different approach to her illustrations. Maria's illustrations, in my opinion, are more complex and therefore, would appeal to a different, older audience. The illustrations in Red are simplistic and there is a lot of white space to help the reader focus on each picture. Sparkle Boy has more elements and components to the pictures and there is little white space. There is so much to look at in Sparkle Boy, so the reader would need to be able to keep a longer attention span to truly focus on the pictures. Moreover, Maria adds emphasis to the 'Sparkle' aspect of the story by emphasizing each sparkle on the bracelets, nails, and skirts of Jessie and Casey. If you look closely, you can see it too! . . . LOOK AT THE DETAIL (and the cute pup).

Critical Lens Analysis:

Before I began discussing the two children's books previously mentioned, I want to give you a few definitions that will help you 'decipher' the following paragraph.

Gender Identity: "a person's perception of having a particular gender, which may or may not correspond with their birth sex."

Gender Expression: "the way in which a person expresses their gender identity, typically through their appearance, dress, and behavior."

Now that we have defined two terms that I think are relevant, let's dig in.

Last week, I discussed Stargazing and New Shoes, two texts that had a central theme of discovering self-identity by coming out of your comfort zone. The text this week, perfectly compliment the books previously discussed; Red and Sparkle Boy, are two different texts, about to different entities, that tie together the theme of identity.

Red is a book about a blue crayon, labeled 'Red'. How can a crayon be about identity? Well, that is what the author first thought as well before he began thinking of what would cause a crayon to be mislabeled. All crayons are labeled with the names of colors, they are all correct, and we rely on the labels to guide our drawings, teachings, etc. Now, let's change our mindset and think about this concept in terms of identity. All children when they are 'created' are labeled 'boys' and 'girls' before they come into the world. Their gender influences clothes, colors of a nursery, and the name of the child that is given. As Kelly and Laminack from Reading to Make A Difference state, " Soon enough, the world will begin trying to define her within the parameters of cultural norms (Laminack and Kelly, 3). Genders are often expressed in these ways, i.e. Gender Expression.

What happens when a child is born, and their identity that is tied to gender, does not match. Their label, like the color 'Red', is so defining that when the outside doesn't match the inside, the individual becomes dis-regulated and so does society because it guides and influences almost every aspect of the world we live in. In Red, the other crayons try to 'fix' Red because he just must be broken. . . according to them, but Red is NOT broken. . just a little different.

Now listen, the message behind the story Red can be applied to more than gender. Think of all of the 'labels' that are created based on our society. While reading, I just immediately connected it with members of the LGBT+community. You may interpret it differently, and that is okay.

While reading Red, it made my heart hurt to see a crayon being snipped at, taped together, judged, etc. Why did this make me feel this way? Immediately , during my reading of Red for the first time, I immediately was able to see how awful it was to try and change something based on labels. This book served as a window for me. I was able to look and see what it is like for individuals that may not fit into the heterosexual box. I will never know what it feels like to not match my gender, but I can empathize with individuals that may not.

After reading this story about the crayon that was FINALLY able to be who it wanted it be, I began reading Sparkle Boy. From the beginning of Sparkle Boy, I could see the connections of gender stereotypes and labels, but this story was more personal because it was illustrated using real people. This story was different because, yes, society was judging the boy that just wanted to sparkle, but Casey, the Sparkle Boy, had the most difficult time with the preconceived notions that influenced his sister, Jessie's, mindset towards him.

While reading Sparkle Boy, I thought that Casey has enthusiasms that align with the ASD, commonly known as Autism Spectrum Disorder. ASD is a neuro-biological disorder that causes individuals with the diagnosis to have strong enthusiasms and/or interests in certain things or objects. The reason that I connected the main character to ASD is not because of his interest in sparkles, but because of his repetitive vocabulary, also known as Echolalia. I wonder if other people made this connection as well? Many times the members of the ASD community are labeled, pushed to the side, and forgotten about, especially in literature.

Moreover, regardless of the possible ASD diagnosis, it was the enthusiasm that Casey had about sparkles that made his sister upset. Casey, is a boy.. boys can't like sparkles and shiny things. . . so Jessie thought. When Jessie was able to see how other people treated her brother based on his enthusiasm of sparkles, she was able to empathize with her brother, and change the way she viewed him. She learned that even though he is a boy and likes sparkles, he is still her brother that loves her very much. This is a valuable lesson that all people need to grasp. Regardless of labels, people are people.

Both of these books offer meaning into identity, which is such a powerful theme for all students. Without knowing what identity means, how will your students understand what they believe in? How will your students empathize with others without knowing about others identitities? Please explore this theme with your classroom.

All of these thoughts, feelings, questions, and research that I did all came from these two books and the books that are previously discussed in my blog. That just shows you the power of literature. Without literature, we do not think of the 'hush hush' things that are unspoken of in our society. As I have gotten older, I have seen the 'hush hush' begin to be discussed more in society and within the school system. As these authors promote social consciousness by connecting the stories to identity and empathy, we should promote these ideas as well. If you have questions about people's differences, JUST ASK (in a very respectful way). More than likely, people are more than willing to open your horizons to the differences that they share.

I will leave you with this statement that I always tell children when they ask me about differences:

If we were all the same, it would be a pretty boring world.

This book offers insight into ASD, even if it is a small insight. I encourage you to learn more about ASD and the members of that community.

Take some time to research ASD: https://www.autism-society.org/

Take some time to research the LGBT+ community: https://gaycenter.org/about/lgbtq/

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