The Big Orange Splot

One man decides to make his house individual and unique among a neighborhood of plain identical houses.

This book had a very good moral to the story. Be an individual. Also, pursue your dreams

It's easy to say this book is about non-conformity, but it's not, exactly. Our hero doesn't let the splot stay, doesn't paint his house to be a jungle, doesn't put up palm trees and sit outside drinking lemonade to be different. He does it to be himself.

It's a more subtle message, and one worth

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sharing with any loved child.

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I think a friend introduced me to this title a few years back and I was blown away by it. It's such a simple story and the illustrations are ok, not blow me away fantastic, but the story...the story is powerful and such a great way to introduce the concept of diversity to kids.

When I first read

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this book I was an Art Education student and knew instantly that this would be a great story to build an art lesson around. I was working with elementary school students at the time and they loved the story and easily understood the concept of diversity and how it was important that not everyone be the same. And they enjoyed the art lesson of designing a house around their interests and what it would look like, much like the characters in the book. Overall an excellent short read that delivers an important and powerful lesson.

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My K-2 students were absolutely enthralled with this story. As I read it aloud, they commented on Pinkwater's illustrations and laughed out loud. I do not think the illustrations are really anything special - seemingly rendered in marker, but they are appealing and they demonstrate the character of

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Mr.Plumbean well. The story is fun and provides the reader with an example of non-conformation. It shows us that we don't need to be like everyone else to be happy, and that we might be happier by following our own personal desires, not those of your neighbors.

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I love this book; I used to read it all the time when I was a child. It is a nice, simple book about how wonderful it is to be yourself and express your own uniqueness, though it might not be "neat." Pinkwater uses the repetition of the phrase "My house is me and I am it. My house is where I like

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to be and it looks like all my dreams." What used to be a "neat" street is changed by a seagull inexplicably dropping orange paint on Mr. Plumbean's house, and it starts a revolution of artistic expression in everyone's homes. While at first the neighbors are upset with Mr. Plumbean's fantastical house, they all come to change their houses to match their dreams. I think this is an excellent message for young students, and a fun lesson plan would be to have them design their own dream houses.

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Great Story.

When a seagull drops a can of orange paint on his neat house, Mr. Plumbean gets an idea that affects his entire neighborhood.