“They say blue is the color of the sky," but “they say the sea is blue, too.” Unless it’s clear as glass, like when the young narrator of this picture book cups some in her hands. She wonders whether a blue whale is blue, because she’s never seen one. From there, her thoughts meander to the orange yolk of an egg she holds in her hand, and the red of her blood as it races through her body when she runs. And the golden ocean of a field of grass, which she might be able to sail upon if she builds a boat that doesn’t weigh too much. Gray storm clouds, a purple budding flower, the green of sprouted leaves. Summer means staying quiet and listening, fall means brown leaves to wiggle her toes in, and winter is “all white, up and down.” Black is the color of her hair, which her mother “parts every morning, like opening a window.” And the black crows, too, those “tiny inkblots on a sea of sky."
THEY SAY BLUE is a gorgeous meditation on color and seasons and ways of looking at things differently. It’s full of wonder and creative energy. The illustrations, by Caldecott Honor winner Tamaki are alive and vibrant and always in motion, as is her text.
--Lynn
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