Salnave production of 'One' is actually about many

"Blue is a quiet color. Red's a hothead who likes to pick on Blue. Yellow, Orange, Green and Purple don't like what they see, but what can they do? When no one speaks up, things get out of hand - until One comes along and shows all the colors how to stand up, stand together, and count."

Such is the description of children's book author Kathryn Otoshi's "One" found on the Barnes and Noble website. Otoshi has said in interviews that "One" is about tolerance, acceptance and difference as well as about having a choice, reasons Salnave Elementary School counselor Catheleen Schlotter felt the book was perfect for a class production as part of the school's anti-bullying week, Oct. 20 – 24.

It's a book Schlotter said gets read often in school, but at a suggestion from second-grade teacher Heidi Hoblin, Schlotter took to the Internet in search of a YouTube segment showing the book's message acted out by students.

"I found it and thought that is so cool, so we decided to do it," she said.

The short play features seven students, six dressed in the specific color used in the book. It opens with students standing in front of their specific color painted on a poster paper and mounted on an art stand. Each student displays the quality of each individual color, as read by the narrator, in this case, Schlotter.

But we never know why each color is associated with a specific trait, such as blue being quiet, or red being a hothead. Red exerts his or her will on the students through intimidation, until the seventh student wearing the number "One" shows up and confronts Red.

In the end, all the colors, including Red, are accepted and become friends, serving to illustrate the motto Salnave adopted for this year's anti-bullying week of "We is over me."

"It's all about how somebody can change your attitude (for the good)," Lillian Barlow, who portrayed Red, said.

"Don't let the bully cook your noodles," Blue portrayer Simone Carter said, using a metaphor for emphasizing the need to stand up to bullying.

Leanne Johnson (Purple) stayed with the food metaphor by noting that being bullied makes one feel like a "squished grape," and Jessica Johnson (Orange) took it a step further by advising to not let "the bully cook your roast beef."

Jessica Johnson added that being bullied makes one feel like a crumpled piece of paper, and that people who helped overcome bullying act to "un-crumple your paper." Schlotter said the theme was portrayed in Wednesday's "Wrinkled Heart" activity, one of five planned for the week.

The others were a school-wide art project to create a handprint mural on Monday and an appearance by the Eastern Washington University women's basketball team, who read to students on Tuesday. The production of "One" was delivered to all students in a Thursday performance in Salnave's "arena," and a "Walk away from bullying" all-school walk around the Salnave playground capped off the week Friday afternoon.

All seven of the students in "One" said they had either seen bullying taking place or been the subject of it themselves. Besides learning to tolerate and accept each other's differences, the students understand that heading off bullying by saying no and reporting the practice to a teacher is the best way to stand up to the practice.

"Stand up, and everybody has somebody who will stand up for them," One portrayer Audrey Schlotter said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.