One

One

By Kathryn Otoshi

Booklist says about this book, "There are many stories about bullies, but few have looked at the subject in such an attractive, original way."

One does just that. The story is about colors who are friends. Yellow, Green, Purple, Orange, and Blue are nice colors who get along. Red, however, picks on Blue. No one tries to stop him. Eventually, because no one will stand up to Red, Red grows bigger and bigger. Then, along comes One (who is a big gray "1"). One finally stands up to Red. The Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, and Orange all decide they want to count too; they become numbers, and they all stand up to Red. But then-- this is pivotal-- the colored numbers stop Red as he tries to roll away. One says, "Red can count too." Red becomes Seven and joins in the fun with the rest of the group. The book ends with the line, "Sometimes it just takes One."

I sincerely appreciated the way this book dealt with bullies. It clearly shows that bullies become bigger bullies when they are not confronted. Sometimes it just takes one person standing up to a bully to make everyone able to stand up to a bully. And, most importantly, it shows that bullies are people too and most of the time, they just want to belong, they want to count too. 

Who would have guessed that a book written about blobs of color could be so moving?