Silliness abounds but wisdom prevails in this vibrant picture book about the fallacy of labeling people based on the way they look--or what color sweater they wear.
When Fox shows up in a blue sweater at a forest gathering of his friends, they are immediately concerned: "Oh no! Fox, what's wrong?!" cries Bear. "You poor, poor thing..." Squirrel shakes his head. "Maybe you'll feel better if you talk to us about it," suggests Deer.
Perplexed, Fox soon learns that his friends believe his blue sweater reflects his mood: blue is sad, red is angry, yellow is happy, and so on. They force colorful sweaters on him as he cycles through his moods in response to their insistence on labeling him. When Fox tells his friends they're making him nervous, for example, Squirrel offers him a pile of green clothing: "Green will help you calm down!" Finally, Fox is able to set his friends straight: "Where in the world did you get all these ideas?! I like red apples, but that doesn’t mean I'm angry! And my favorite color is blue, but that doesn't mean I'm sad."
Spanish authors Alicia Acosta and Luis Amavisca, who previously teamed up on I Love My Colorful Nails and Benji's Doll, have returned with the gently instructive Red Is Not Angry, Blue Is Not Sad, endearingly illustrated by Anuska Allepuz (Zebra's Umbrella; The Boy, The Bird and the Coffin Maker), also from Spain. Their message of the importance of resisting assumptions will go down easily with young readers, even as they laugh at the animal friends' goofy notions. Allepuz's satisfyingly textured artwork decorates the spare, grayscale forest imagery around the expressive animals with splotches and smudges of color. Using the simplest lines, Allepuz imbues characters with personality and emotion. The three friends, with dots for eyes and lines for mouths, switch from happy, excited faces to evident alarm when Fox cries out, "ENOUGH!!!" after hearing too many color/mood suggestions.
This charming picture book is likely to inspire thought and conversation about colors, feelings, and preconceived ideas. Once Fox and his pals talk it through, they all understand that everyone should be free to make their own choices and not worry about what others think. After all, green may be the "color of peace and tranquility," as Squirrel says, but so might red or purple or black. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor
Shelf Talker: The amusing confusion in this delightfully illustrated picture book reminds young readers not to judge others based on how they look--or what color sweater they wear.