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  • This Book Is Gray
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,907 global ratings
5 star
73%
4 star
14%
3 star
6%
2 star
3%
1 star
3%
This Book Is Gray

This Book Is Gray

byLindsay Ward
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Top positive review

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Rob Natiuk
5.0 out of 5 starsThis is the GRAYTEST book ever! Tied for FIRST PLACE with very few others.
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2019
I AM OVERJOYED! If you've read my past reviews, you'll know I am often critical of this and that. But I am tickled PINK with this story. In my experience, it's up there with Shel Silverstein, A. A. Milne, and even Dr. Seuss. As a lover and writer of children's books, I am PURPLE with envy! But I'm far from BLUE because I bubbled with sheer happiness while and after reading this book.

BUT -- I have one regret -- I wish I were an illustrator as colorful as Lindsay Ward, the author/artist here. She even makes GRAY such a lively color. And that's in the face of criticism from more colorful colors--whether primary, secondary, achromatic, complementary, or monochromatic colors. They're all there, trying to exclude GRAY. Reading and gazing on the pages of this book took me into a RAINBOW OF DELIGHT and left me there!

LESSON ONLY FOR KIDS? YEAH, SURE! Then I'm a kid of 70+ years old. I'm going to have this around my house, share it with children and adults alike. Do that too, and you will help make the world a better place, more accepting of people who at first sight might appear less colorful than you and your heroes.

Some of my young friends--and even crotchety older friends--are going to get this book for Christmas!
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141 people found this helpful

Top critical review

All critical reviews›
Trippet
2.0 out of 5 starsAdults will like it
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2019
but the intended audience's linguistic level is too low to catch the puns and elaborate words (bleak, dreary, chromatic). As an adult I enjoyed it, as a child I'd be bored because the content is too advanced. The illustrations are cute, but I think that's about the only thing that would capture a youngun's attention. To understand primary and secondary, they have to understand the concept of 1st and 2nd. Not many little children are aware of those distinctions.

I thought this may be good for my 4-yr old grandson who's paralyzed from the waist down. There are plenty of things he's excluded from, making this relatable. The language used, though, is too mature for a 4-yr old to understand. I'm on board with teaching them bigger words, but there's only so much capacity their minds have at that age and I feel this is going too fast too soon for the little guys. 8-yr olds on up might benefit, but by that age they're not as interested in sitting still to be read to, and the words are too big for the average youngster to read themselves. Bleak and dreary are okay, but the concept of achromatic and chromatic may go over their heads.

Although the flow is clunky and it's awkward to read, it is fun to do all the different voices - the author certainly lends ample personality to each color. I could read one of the speech bubbles and ask which color said that, then have my grandson point to that color. That would be a fun way to help distinguish colors. Those points earned a 2nd star.

Reader's Digest version: if I saw this on a bookshelf at a store and read through it, I would place it back on the shelf and look for something else.
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8 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Rob Natiuk
5.0 out of 5 stars This is the GRAYTEST book ever! Tied for FIRST PLACE with very few others.
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2019
Verified Purchase
I AM OVERJOYED! If you've read my past reviews, you'll know I am often critical of this and that. But I am tickled PINK with this story. In my experience, it's up there with Shel Silverstein, A. A. Milne, and even Dr. Seuss. As a lover and writer of children's books, I am PURPLE with envy! But I'm far from BLUE because I bubbled with sheer happiness while and after reading this book.

BUT -- I have one regret -- I wish I were an illustrator as colorful as Lindsay Ward, the author/artist here. She even makes GRAY such a lively color. And that's in the face of criticism from more colorful colors--whether primary, secondary, achromatic, complementary, or monochromatic colors. They're all there, trying to exclude GRAY. Reading and gazing on the pages of this book took me into a RAINBOW OF DELIGHT and left me there!

LESSON ONLY FOR KIDS? YEAH, SURE! Then I'm a kid of 70+ years old. I'm going to have this around my house, share it with children and adults alike. Do that too, and you will help make the world a better place, more accepting of people who at first sight might appear less colorful than you and your heroes.

Some of my young friends--and even crotchety older friends--are going to get this book for Christmas!
141 people found this helpful
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SLP
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for speech therapy /r/
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2019
Verified Purchase
I bought this book for a few of my students in speech therapy who are working on /r/ at the sentence/reading level. I found myself laughing at the events in the book along with my students, enjoying and appreciating the vocabulary words such as "dismal", "bleak", etc., and being able to hear many /r/ productions along with /s, l, th/. The illustrations are funny and my students even commented on several they liked. An enjoyable book all around! I might have to buy a second copy for my other school! I think this could be a great book for art or whenever children begin to learn about the color wheel as there are a number of color terms, too (primary, secondary, hue, muted). FUN!
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SLP
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for speech therapy /r/
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2019
I bought this book for a few of my students in speech therapy who are working on /r/ at the sentence/reading level. I found myself laughing at the events in the book along with my students, enjoying and appreciating the vocabulary words such as "dismal", "bleak", etc., and being able to hear many /r/ productions along with /s, l, th/. The illustrations are funny and my students even commented on several they liked. An enjoyable book all around! I might have to buy a second copy for my other school! I think this could be a great book for art or whenever children begin to learn about the color wheel as there are a number of color terms, too (primary, secondary, hue, muted). FUN!
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65 people found this helpful
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Charles van Buren
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
5.0 out of 5 stars Love your neighbor
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2019
Verified Purchase
Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: December 1, 2019
Publisher: Two Lions
Language: English
ASIN: B07MQR7B5V

I downloaded this book through the Amazon First Reads Program for our daughter. We sat down and read the book together. She complained that the print in the Kindle edition is too small on my 7" screen. Perhaps this book would look much better with a larger screen. She enjoyed the story but was not excited about it. She seemed to enjoy our discussion more than the actual reading.

This is a pretty basic story about how leaving someone out of activities is hurtful. It also teaches that all have something to contribute. Very early in life I was fortunate enough to work with a wide variety of people with different levels of education and ability. I was taught to treat everyone with respect. By the time I began my adult career it was almost a mantra with me that everyone I met knew something or how to do something which I didn't. This book reinforces teaching that philosophy to our daughter and fits in with the second greatest commandment - Love your neighbor as yourself.
55 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great way to teach color theory as well as sensitivity to feeling of others
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2019
Verified Purchase
I'm a 70 year old artist. I loved it. It's adorable. I never got a children's book for my Amazon Prime first read before.
40 people found this helpful
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♫ Trouble ♫
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars Love, love, love this book
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2019
Verified Purchase
I am a reading teacher and love having new material for read alouds. This is just perfect fun for the littlest children still learning their colors and blending and having fun.

Poor Gray. All the other little kids are always leaving him out. It is an emotion every child remembers, especially the ones who are just never old enough to be included.

It's a very pretty and funny story. It is one that will be easy to get children involved in. They all have favorite colors.
25 people found this helpful
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T. K. Fowler
5.0 out of 5 stars It isn’t easy being Gray, but writing a Gray book helps
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2019
Verified Purchase
I went through a gray wardrobe phase. It fell between orchid and butter yellow. It lasted several years, long enough to wear out two pairs of gray zipper-pocket jeans. I still have my gray argyle sweater, a Jones of New York gray wool peacoat, and my warm and fancy furry gray Sorel boots. It wasn’t a sad phase, this gray wardrobe phase, and I didn’t just wear gray in winter. My gray-, white-, and butter-yellow swimsuit lead me on to chickory, a medium blue with gray and periwinkle in it, similar to the sky in Gray’s second draft of his book. Once Gray expressed himself, and found acceptance among Primaries, Secondaries, and Black, and White, he was ready to live and write in color again. Like me. And I was amazed to find that all along, through phases of Wynton Marsalis coral to sunset pink to sherbet orange to Great Lakes aquamarine, to plum to French blue to orchid, then gray through butter yellow, all along I had been spying bits of chickory blue that all landed in my kitchen once I repainted it. Thank you, Lindsay Ward, for helping me embrace the rainbow in my closet.
13 people found this helpful
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Lora S.
5.0 out of 5 stars Many layers to this children's book
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2022
Verified Purchase
I got This Book is Gray because I picked up its sequel, Pink is Not a Color as a Kindle First Reads book for June and wanted to see what happened before.

I love it – Gray’s problems making himself understood really resonated with me. It is a children’s book, and I am sure some children will love it. It has cute illustrations and lots of color. It also contains several layers of lessons, so I am not sure just what age children would like it best. I can see it for very young children who are just learning their colors, or who enjoy colorful stories. I can also see it for somewhat older children with an interest in art or color. And I expect other children who could care less about colors in the abstract but who can relate to being shut out of activities because of some misperception about just who should be allowed to participate in some activities and why.

The color Gray is not allowed to color the rainbow by the rainbow colors. So, he decides he will show them; he will write and color his own book, and everything will be gray, just like him. But he’s barely gotten started when the Primary colors show up and start criticizing. Then the Secondary colors come along, and Gray can hardly get a word in.

For those who are interested in the technical details of color, there is a color glossary at the beginning of the book.
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Amazon customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great author
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2019
Verified Purchase
Amazing children's book. Witty and fun for younger children but older ones may get a kick out of it too.
This author is an amazing lady. She went to Maple Leaf school a couple of years ago and spent a couple of hours reading and signing free books to give to children there. Plus she also demonstrated her awesome illustrating talents too!
She is a just amazing!
11 people found this helpful
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Joy St John
5.0 out of 5 stars Cute idea, great illustrations, good moral
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2020
Verified Purchase
I saw the title pop up in my list. Gray is my neutral base for color decor'. I dislike neutrals in the tan, beige, ivory spectrum as they do not readily mix with my favored spectrums of pastels or jewel tones and bright colors and contrasts. Grey is more versatile. You can spell it two ways, it blends everything without shading it toward other colors. It allows black and white sharp contrasts without becoming another contrasting color. So, I chose the book. It was easy to read. Fun. It built on the theme very well, thus keeping the reader interested and enticed to keep reading. It dealt with experiences of isolation, abandonment, longing, misunderstanding, respect, cooperation, rejection, hurt, desire, how we deal with these things by adding more isolation, rejection outward, abandonment in return, rejection in return, in other words, retaliation, by taking our wonderful selves away from those "bad" others. It taught focus on what you have and who you are and finding pleasure in self and surroundings even if others do reject and avoid but it also showed the need to be open and welcoming, the need to check perceptions out, a way to discuss differences while keeping one's self-respect, and our need for each other to have a rich, full, multidimensional, multi-functional life. Yep, all that in a short, children's story.
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Jason Harrington
5.0 out of 5 stars Something unique
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2020
Verified Purchase
I like when kid's books work off of a simple original idea. Of all the things my three year old has learned, colors is a lesson he has mastered. So, the meta nature of this story doesn't shake him one bit. Now, mind you that this is not a book he is vocalizing about much, but he is locked into it's story regardless of any absurdness. The creators did a good job of making a book that is tolerable for adults who have to read it repeatedly, but deals with concepts of interest to my son. He loves animals, and coloring with specific colors. There is not a lot else to say about this book except thata the pictures are nice in this large scale, and the amount of text on each page builds a pace that is realistic for my son. It gives him time to explore a little extra on each page without lingering on the same images too long.
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