Lionni had a late start to writing and illustrating books. He got the idea for his first story on the train when his grandchildren were misbehaving. To distract them, he ripped out pages of Life Magazine and invented two characters: Little Blue and Little Yellow. He then gave up his career as a commercial artist and continued to make art until he died in 1999.

A story about...

...maybe friendship?
...maybe color mixing?

All told, I'm more entertained by the (wrong) idea that this is a book about the hazards of unsafe sex, but it's not a terrible book. Just... not my speed. ( )

Told through ripped pieces of paper, little blue and little yellow are best friends. One day, they give each other a hug so big it makes them both green. Their parents do not believe they are who they say they are because they are green, and they cry so hard it turns them back blue and yellow. When they reunite with their parents, they hug them so hard that everyone turns green, and they finally understand what happened.The story itself is really sweet and clever, and the abstract illustrations make it even better. I also feel like this would be a good book to use for an art unit. ( )

The most interesting part of this book to me is that the characters aren't people or animals like you typically see, they're like little circles of paint. This book would be great for younger audiences to go with an art lessons. It could aid in teaching how colors mix. It could also teach a lesson about following your parents directions, blue and yellow didn't get mixed until blue left the house. I love how the author didn't;t try to throw a theme at you like some books do, they just wrote about 2 colors mixing. ( )

Great for knowing what colors mix to make whatever color.