Red, A Crayon’s Story is a picture book by Michael Hall.
The basic story is that the Red Crayon doesn’t like being a Red crayon, he prefers being Blue. His strawberries and everything else he draws comes out blue. He struggles with his problem until a new friend asks if he can draw a blue ocean. He says he can’t because he’s red. He is encouraged to try anyway, and draws a great ocean, and blueberries, and jeans, and a whale. He has found himself.
Everybody has a natural bent and no one should force a square peg into a round hole. Sometimes parents or teachers have preconceived notions about what a child should be or should become. Maybe little Johnny doesn’t want to be a doctor or lawyer, he wants to be a mechanic or an engineer.
In looking into the background of the author, he is dyslectic and had problems with reading as a young child. I imagine he struggled to live up to people’s expectations of him while they didn’t understand his difficulties.
Controversy came to this book because it could be interpreted to relate to kids in a sexual way, although this doesn’t come from anything in the book. The rainbow colors in a box of crayons could be related to homosexuality and to transgenderism in that you could be locked in a physical body not to your liking.
The author does not make these claims so the interpretation would come from the perspective of the presenter. The question is will they stick to the theme of the book to be true to yourself, or will it be used to promote the sexuality angle. It’s in the hands of the presenter.