One

One is a wonderfully clever and simple book that uses coloured dots to represent different personality types. Blue is a quiet and dreamy character, who is teased and bullied by the hothead Red. Yellow, Green, Purple and Orange console Blue, but no one is brave enough to confront Red face-to-face. Red becomes larger and more aggressive until someone completely different comes along – One. One stands up for him or herself and gradually all the colours learn to stand up and be counted, quite literally.

This unique picture book works on so many different levels: it teaches colours and numbers, has some great word play, and is an excellent book for kindergarten- and school-age children who are encountering playground dynamics for the first time. Even Red is redeemed in the end, and is happily included in the colourful number gang.