Gray

March 1, 2024
Color words signal emotions. Children understand that colors often suggest feelings: The brighter the hues, the happier the sentiments. As this book opens, a kid looks out forlornly and announces, "Today, I am gray." The illustrations confirm it, as do the child's explanations: "I don't feel sunshine yellow or orange balloon bright or treetop green." Not even "night sky black." Everyone's had days when they feel like "the scribble on a page," "the storm in the clouds," "the puddle in the road," "the tea when it's gone cold." The protagonist says that it's OK to feel gray, as if all the colors have gone; you don't have to be bright every day. The good news is...storm clouds that bring rain also bring splashy puddles and the sun. And while you may feel gray like the sidewalk, later you can scribble on it...using whatever colors you choose! Better yet is a loving parent telling you, "All of these colors are your feelings...and each one of them is still inside you." The best news is a parent saying "I love you however you are feeling...and my love won't change, even when you're gray." Kids will warm to this sweet, understated U.K. import and feel heartened by the caregiver's comforting reassurances. Youngsters should feel their own moods, notoriously mercurial in childhood, validated. The mixed-media illustrations are appealingly childlike--and, unsurprisingly--colorful. Parent and child have lightly tanned skin. This wise charmer will help brighten readers' feelings. (Picture book. 4-7)

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Starred review from May 15, 2024
Preschool-Grade 2 *Starred Review* A child is in the throes of feeling down, blah, or--to use their word--gray, in this picture book that uses colors, similes, and metaphors to demonstrate the power of embracing your feelings. The child starts out with a gray face and a gray hoodie, standing in front of a brick wall. On the next page, they announce: "Today I am gray." The child uses color similes throughout to explain how they feel: not like ""sunshine yellow . . . or treetop green."" They go on to use startling, poetic metaphors, such as comparing themself to "the scribble on a page" or "the puddle in the road." Famed illustrator Child (a Kate Greenaway winner and former UK's Children's Laureate) uses textured mixed-media collage art to show what gray feels like and how the child moves from the world of gray back to the world of different colors. There's sly humor here, too, like when bits of black cloud drip vertically on the page, almost blotting out the child's hoodie. The key is the validation received from the child's mother, who assures them that it's okay to feel this way, that the colors of brighter feelings will return, and that she loves them no matter what. Valuable for both children and adults.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2024
This visually and metaphorically resonant picture book follows a child living through a day when they are not "sunshine yellow" or "balloon bright." Instead, they describe themself as "gray today. I just am. I am gray. Gray is when I don't feel like me." Dockrill uses simple and evocative metaphors to reflect a feeling to which many young readers and listeners (and probably many older ones, too) can relate, and to demonstrate the bleakness of dour thoughts. A sympathetic caretaker provides gentle reassurance that the colors inside a person don't go away, even on gray days, and their love for the protagonist won't go away either. Child's distinct mixed-media illustrations, with engagingly varied compositions, shift between grayscale and sunny hues to create a contrast that embodies the sense of being "gray like the storm in the clouds" in a colorful world. The text lets readers and listeners accept feelings of darkness, and reminds them, "It's OK to feel gray." The art manages to convey both the protagonist's emotions and the wonders that can be present on an average gloomy day. Altogether a welcome reminder that even on the grayest days, hugs (and support from others) can help, and color can return. Allison Price

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
This visually and metaphorically resonant picture book follows a child living through a day when they are not "sunshine yellow" or "balloon bright." Instead, they describe themself as "gray today. I just am. I am gray. Gray is when I don't feel like me." Dockrill uses simple and evocative metaphors to reflect a feeling to which many young readers and listeners (and probably many older ones, too) can relate, and to demonstrate the bleakness of dour thoughts. A sympathetic caretaker provides gentle reassurance that the colors inside a person don't go away, even on gray days, and their love for the protagonist won't go away either. Child's distinct mixed-media illustrations, with engagingly varied compositions, shift between grayscale and sunny hues to create a contrast that embodies the sense of being "gray like the storm in the clouds" in a colorful world. The text lets readers and listeners accept feelings of darkness, and reminds them, "It's OK to feel gray." The art manages to convey both the protagonist's emotions and the wonders that can be present on an average gloomy day. Altogether a welcome reminder that even on the grayest days, hugs (and support from others) can help, and color can return.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)