Tickled Pink

Finished June 14
Tickled Pink: How Friendship Washes the World with Color by Andrée Poulin, illustrated by Lucille Danis Drouot

This picture book is a good introduction to issues around race and prejudice for young children. Filippo the young flamingo is looking for someone to play with when he sees Zac the zebra and Poncho the panda playing and asks to join them. They refuse and one of them uses Filippo's color as a reason for the refusal. Running home Filippo gets reassurance from his parents, and then his grandmother, an artist who mixes colors together.
This gives Filippo the idea to paint spots of black and white on himself to see if that makes the other animals accept him. But they still exhibit color prejudice.
All along his adventure, a small black and white Lemur, Ludo, has been watching and finally works up the courage to comfort Filippo and say he likes his pink color, one of some of his favourite things like salmon and peonies. The two of them grab some pink paint and start to add pink to the world, including Filippo's tormenters. They also find many other animals of different colors who are more accepting of differences and open to new experiences.
I really liked the illustrations and how the use of the black and white with the bright pink was used.