Miss Stone, the rigid principal of CreekvilleÕs Magnolia Middle School who insists on a "tidy" working environment, divides the schoolÕs five floors into "skin-color units." She announces, "Whites on the first floor, yellows on the second, browns the third, reds the fourth, and blacks the fifth. No exceptions!"
Meanwhile the townÕs eccentric chemist, Dr. Whittle, proves his theory that "color makes no real difference." Using his recently developed secret formula, he changes gray mice to shades of pink, blue, and yellow, only to find that they retain their behavioral and character traits.
When Dr. WhittleÕs son, Roger, inadvertently drinks his fatherÕs secret formula and turns kaleidoscopic, Miss Stone forbids him to enter the state math competition. "We donÕt want the school to get a bad reputation," she declares.
In response, all the students drink the secret formula, shocking the little town of Creekville into honoring diversity. The studentsÕ Technicolor appearance lasts just long enough to get Miss Stone replaced, integrate the school, and let Roger win the competition. Creekville now has a new face, and its citizens have brand new hearts.
This delightfully illustrated twenty-eight-page book is intended not only for children, but also for adults, teachers and the religious community. This is the second in a series called, "Teaching Kids to Care." It is dedicated to Rev. Martin Luther King.
After forty years of diary and journal writing, Patricia Young Simon has become a teller of children's tales. Her other interests include painting, sculpting, studying Eastern philosophies and disciplines and visiting foreign lands. She frequently involves herself in social work and always finds time for family. Patricia lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she weaves dreams of a better world.
About the Illustrator
Barbara Sandford is an accomplished oil painter, illustrator, stage set designer and former gallery owner. For more than two decades, she was a practicing psychotherapist-- until she happily retired five years ago. She lives on Puget Sound, Washington, where she paints, gardens, and revels in creative chaos with her children and grandchildren.