The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments

Title: The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments
Author: Arnold Lobel
Illustrator: Arnold Lobel
Type: Fiction
Approximate Interest Level: K-6
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date of Publication: January 1994
ISBN: 978-0064433167

Synopsis: An engaging story about a medieval wizard that creates the color blue in his basement. The townspeople paint everything blue, but soon tire of it.  They implore the wizard to make something new, so he creates yellow.  Again, everything gets painted yellow, but not for long.  On the third attempt, the wizard creates red, and everything gets painted red.  The fourth time around, the wizard can't create any new colors.  Ultimately, his pots of blue, yellow, and red overflow and mix together creating secondary and tertiary colors.  He tells the townspeople that they must use all the colors this time round.

Lesson plan link

Possible teaching points: 1) primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, 2) emotions related to color