(GLCs: Click here for grade level guidelines.)
Date(s) Used: Sep. 2026
Synopsis:
For centuries, blue powders and dyes were some of the most sought-after materials in the world. Ancient Afghan painters ground mass quantities of sapphire rocks to use for their paints, while snails were harvested in Eurasia for the tiny amounts of blue that their bodies would release.
And then there was indigo, which was so valuable that American plantations grew it as a cash crop. It wasn't until 1905, when Adolf von Baeyer created a chemical blue dye, that blue could be used for anything and everything - most notably that uniform of workers everywhere, blue jeans.
This picture book follows one color's journey through time and across the world, as it becomes the blue we know today.
Discussion topics: To be posted soon ...
Craft ideas: To be posted soon ...
*Note: These craft ideas are just suggestions.
You can use them, but you don't have to use them.
You can expand upon them, or add your own twist.
Remember, though, that the focus of your time should
not be on the development and execution of a craft;
the focus should be on the read-aloud and the
enjoyment of the book!
