Out of the Blue

March 15, 2023
A boy likes different colors. An unnamed "worried little boy" with light skin and messy brown hair lives "in a very BLUE house, / on a very blue street." In his monochrome world, skin and hair tones remain natural, but there are "workers / painting trees and grass" to turn them blue, and diverse children on litter duty toss anything otherwise colored into the trash. There's little explanation about the hows and whys of this tame dystopia, and the limits of the clunkily metered rhyme prevent the story from going into any depth. The boy loves the color yellow but keeps it a secret, because "in his heart he felt that / loving YELLOW must be / BAD." He hides all the yellow things he can find in his closet--many adults will see this framing as a metaphor for queerness. At night the boy throws all his yellow things around his room and dances amid the chaos. His father catches him, and though the boy is initially afraid, Dad comforts him, and with his influence, the town eventually becomes multicolored. It's a contrived attempt to talk about conformity and diversity. The unanswered questions raised by the idea of an all-blue world are potentially interesting but ignored in favor of the familiar "be yourself" message. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Attempts to convey a much-needed lesson, but the execution is as monotonous as its palette. (Picture book. 4-7)

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April 1, 2023
Preschool-Grade 2 In a town where everything is painted blue--even grass, trees, and school buses--lives a boy who loves yellow. When he and his classmates are outside the school picking up trash and throwing non-blue items into garbage bags, he secretly tucks a yellow rubber duck in his pocket. Troubled and afraid to tell his father, he hides it in his closet with other yellow treasures. Late that night, he pulls them out. Dad walks in. Realizing his son's predicament, he reassures the boy that he loves him, and shows it by painting their house yellow overnight. The neighbors, initially confused, then thoughtful, begin repainting their homes and belongings, creating a more cheerful, colorful, accepting environment for all. The illustrator makes good use of the colors mentioned within the story as well as the contrast between the shades-of-blue scenes and the vividly colorful ones. The rhyming text clearly conveys the boy's shifting emotions. The last lines encourage children (and by extension, their parents, caregivers, and teachers) to embrace and celebrate the differences that make them unique.

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