More than Peach
Author: Bellen Woodard
Illustrator: Fanny Liem
Grade Level: K-2
Summary:
As Bellen is at school and her friends call the peach crayon "the skin color" crayon, something just didn't feel right for her. While she begins to talk about this feeling with her mother and the language surrounding the "skin color" crayon, she develops a brilliant idea. Instead of passing the brown color crayon to match Bellen's skin color, as her mother suggested, she came up with the idea of asking what color her friends would like since skin color can be any of the beautiful colors. The next day at school, Bellen decided to put her idea to the test! After her friend asked her to pass "the skin color" crayon, she asked, "Which one? Skin can be any number of beautiful colors". When her friend replied to her question by asking for the peach crayon, and her other friends in her classroom were just as specific when they needed a "skin color" crayon, Bellen had such a proud look on her face. As the new language began to circulate through the school, Bellen wanted to make a change in other schools as well. Putting her pen to paper, she came up with a plan, engaging her school, family, friends, and the rest of her community to help spread the new language around crayons and how we are "more than peach". Bellen's words circulated through the world, as she created the More Than Peach Project, and became the World's 1st Crayon Activist.
Element Six (Social Action):
Although I believe that Bellen Woodard's More than Peach embodies several elements, I think that element six, social action, is the major theme in this book. Bellen, being a Black child, did not feel right when the "skin color" crayon was the peach crayon because for her, her "skin color" crayon was not peach. As she unpacked her feelings and saw the change that she can make in her school, she knew that she could make a change in the world. And she did just that! She wanted everyone to know that they are more than just peach, that they are valuable, and the space that they are in should value them as well by considering everyone. She noticed a problem, came up with a solution, and made a change.
Activity:
After reading this book with my students, and discussing the ways in which Bellen used her voice to be an advocate for change, I would explain to my students that they can be advocates as well. We can discuss and think about an important message that considers diversity or inclusion, and each student can create posters with our important messages. Once completed, we can hang them up and go around the room, and admire each other's posters with their important messages and drawings. We can even invite other classes to take a look at our gallery of posters, and discuss the impact that our words and messages have on us, and how we can be advocates no matter what age.
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