They Say Blue: A Picture Book - Hardcover

Tamaki, Jillian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1419728512 ISBN 13: 9781419728518

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2018

Synopsis

A 2018 Boston Globe-Horn Book Picture Book Award Winner and A 2018 Parent's Choice Picture Book Gold Award Winner!

In captivating paintings full of movement and transformation, Tamaki follows a young girl through a year or a day as she examines the colors in the world around her. Egg yolks are sunny orange as expected, yet water cupped in her hands isn’t blue like they say. But maybe a blue whale is blue. She doesn’t know, she hasn’t seen one. Playful and philosophical, They Say Blue is a book about color as well as perspective, about the things we can see and the things we can only wonder at.
 
This first picture book from celebrated illustrator Jillian Tamaki will find equal appreciation among kids and collectors.

About this title

About the Author

Jillian Tamaki is an illustrator and comics artist best known for her graphic novels Skim, which was named a New York Times Best Illustrated, and This One Summer, both cocreated with Mariko Tamaki. This One Summer was awarded a Caldecott Honor, Printz Honor, and Eisner Award.
 

From School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1—Tamaki's picture book debut explores color and the seasons in a lyrical, philosophical way that is rooted in a child's sensibilities. A young girl contemplates things most assume as hard truths. "They say blue is the color of the sky....Which is true today! They say the sea is blue, too." But then she points out that it looks blue, but when she holds it in her hands "it's clear as glass." Then she wonders is a blue whale blue? She hasn't seen one. In a nonlinear, vignette fashion, seasons change as do feelings of frustration to wonder, capturing a child's imagination, mindfulness, and inquiry. Each unexpected turn from thought to thought will allow opportunities for rich discussion when using the book with children. Large swathes of acrylic paint on top of inked illustrations bring energy, color, and light to each sensitively rendered moment. Tamaki uses a motif of the young girl with her arms raised throughout, radiant with joy whether she is playing in the ocean, shedding winter clothes, or imagining that she is the tree she watches outside her bedroom window. The book ends with an intimate moment of her mother waking her in the morning, and as her mother braids her hair, they watch crows and wonder together what they are thinking. VERDICT Attuned to a child's psychology and patterns of critical thinking, this visually stunning work is a must-purchase for libraries.—Danielle Jones, Multnomah County Library, OR

About this edition

• Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1419728512
• ISBN 13: 9781419728518
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40