All the other crayons expect Red to conform to their expectations but he simply can’t. He can’t draw a red strawberry, and when he and Yellow are paired in school and assigned to draw an orange together, he fails at that, too. Even his self-portrait is wrong—he draws himself blue. Everyone tries to fix Red, but with no success. Children will see what the other crayons can’t—that Red is actually a blue crayon with the wrong paper label. Ultimately Red’s story is both a clever and accessible way to show that people aren’t always what you expect them to be, and that we must look beyond labels and outside appearances. (Ages 3–7)