“The Greatest Color” by Poopak Raad

• 09/11/2019
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The Greatest Color
Poopak Raad
CreateSpace (2018)
ISBN 9781718915879
Reviewed by Lydia Dehning (age 6) for Reader View Kids (9/19)

“The Greatest Color” by Poopak Raad, is about lots of colors that all think that they are the best, and none of them can choose anyone other than themselves. The story starts with a painter named Adam who just finished painting something and is now tired and ready to leave the room. Adam forgot to clean the paintbrushes, so some of their color drips on the floor.

White is the first color to drip. White is the color of snow and flowers and rabbits and stars and lots of other things. When white is still dripping, another color tells it to be quiet. The next color that drips is yellow. Yellow is the color of the sun, flowers, leaves, and other things; I was confused when the story said yellow is the color of oranges though, because I always thought they were orange, not yellow. When yellow is still dripping, another color interrupts. The next color to drip is red. Red is the color of apples, roses, pomegranates, and other things. When red is still dripping, another color interrupts. Black is the last color to drip. Black is the color of the night, birds, your eyes, your hair, and other things. When black was still dripping, the other colors start arguing with it that they are the best color.

The old broom tries to help fix the problem and tells them to each paint the room in their color. After each color is done, then the other colors say nice things to them about their work. Then they start getting jealous of each other again and make a mess with their colors all mixed together. Later, Adam comes back to the room and sees the mess and gets upset. The old broom tells her what happened, and Adam uses the colors together to make the room look good.

Note from Mom:

This is a cute story, and another rendition of other stories we’ve read of colors working together to make a beautiful final product. This is a wonderful metaphor for humans as well – we are good on our own, but we’re likely to get jealous of others and intimidated, but when we work together then we have no reason to be intimidated and we can focus on making the final outcome better than we could do ourselves. I liked how there was an extra page at the end for the reader to write their favorite color and explain why they like it and how they feel about it in both words and an illustration; then they can color the room from the book in the colors they want.