| The Big Orange Splot | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Daniel Manus Pinkwater |
| Illustrator | Daniel Manus Pinkwater |
| Publisher | Scholastic Inc |
| Publication date | 1977 |
| Pages | 32 |
| ISBN | 9780590445103 |
The Big Orange Splot is a children's picture book by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. It was published in 1977 by Scholastic Inc, New York. The age range is ages 4–8, and all 32 pages have a full color picture, which helps the child visualize when reading.
The vocabulary and themes in the book suggest it is targeted at adults as well.
The main character, Mr. Plumbean, lives on a "neat street" where all the houses look the same. A seagull flies over his house and drops a can of bright orange paint on his roof, but instead of repainting his house to look like all the others on the street, Mr. Plumbean paints it to look like all his dreams. His neighbors send people to talk him into repainting his house to look like theirs, but everyone he talks to ends up painting their houses like their dreams also. In the end, all the neighbors say:
"Our street is us and we are it. Our street is where we like to be, and it looks like all our dreams."
The drawings were made with markers, and if one looks closely one can see the marker lines. In an interview in 1978 Daniel Manus Pinkwater revealed the halucinagenic undertones clearly portrayed throughout the story. Due to this interview the book was pulled from most libraries in Missouri in the early 1980's. Many believe the seagull was a reference to his older brother Steven "Seagull" Pinkwater.
The book is being used in elementary school education in the US.[1][2][3]