  | In the blue Author: Hourigan, Erin | |
| Price: $23.78 | ||
Summary:
A little girl whose father's world goes from bright and yellow to dark and blue gets frustrated when she is unable to help him, but knows that together, they can do anything.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: LG Reading Level: 2.10 Points: .5 Quiz: 518705 |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (02/01/22)
School Library Journal (06/03/22)
Booklist (04/15/22)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 06/03/2022 PreS-Gr 4—A small girl narrates against a rainbow background the joy of time spent with her father. Then the pages turn blue, as his posture and facial expressions become sad, and almost unreadable. Very little is explained, but the meaning is clear; her father cannot help the blue place he is in, and she has to wait for him to figure it out. She reacts with rage and frustration, while her mother quietly supports them both. There is a place her father goes for help, and the hint of a pharmacy, and slowly the pages grow brighter again, as her father becomes once more the man she knows. Like the seaside where the book opens, this book begins like the gentle lapping of waves and crescendos, emotionally, with the weight of the father's illness. Readers will feel the crush, and then the relief, as the family (who are all white) works together to go with the flow, without being overtaken by it. Back matter includes print and online resources and an author's note about her father's clinical depression. VERDICT An essential glimpse of the impact of one person's mental health issues on the entire family, and a lovingly crafted path to a realistic resolution—not a cure, but managing.—Kimberly Olson Fakih - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 04/15/2022 Here a girl tells the story of how her usually exuberant father changed into a sad, lethargic, sometimes rage-filled man. As he morphs into someone who sleeps all day and doesn’t respond to her attempts to change him back, adult readers will recognize this as a story about depression. The girl, of course, has no clue to the mystery until a therapist explains “all the colors” of our moods to her after her father has gotten help. The illustrations, done in acrylic gouache and pencils, are brilliant in showing these colors: they move from the father and daughter, both suffused with gold at the seaside, to the father infested by blue, while the mother and daughter are still in gold (with the father’s blues stretching toward them), and, finally, a bluish-purplish color covering the father like a bruise. The changing colors and comparison of moods to mutable weather are effective ways to help children understand what’s happening when loved ones change. Back matter includes resources for families dealing with mental illness. Relatable and hopeful. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.
