about the book
When you see the color blue, do you think of happy things or something that is not so happy? In this book, a little girl discovers that colors means different things to different people in her neighborhood.
Her sister says blue is a sad color, but the little girl thinks of happy things when she thinks of blue, like her favorite pair of jeans or splashing in a cool blue pool on a hot summer’s day.
Her dad thinks brown is an ordinary color like old paper bags. When the little girl thinks of brown, she remembers rich chocolate syrup!
Her cousin says orange is energetic like bouncy basketballs. The little girl thinks of orange as a warning color like traffic signs…or a stalking tiger!
There are so many colors to explore. How about pink and purple, yellow and black?
One thing is sure, this little girl is not about to let anyone else’s opinions color her world—but it is fun seeing all the possibilities!
about the author
Jessica Young grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in Canada. She says it was freezing at times, but oh so beautiful! Her most favorite thing in school was putting on some music with her friends and setting up big white canvases and painting away. It was her form of play.
She got all the way through a master’s program before realizing that she loved to write. After graduating with a degree in art therapy, she worked as a waitress, tree planter, lifeguard, flower arranger, a wilderness canoe guide, and an art therapist.
Currently she teaches art and works as a curriculum consultant. But now Jessica knows, writing is her biggest passion. She started writing after her first child was born, and her very first picture book was for him. Sending it to her favorite author was not the best way to get it published, but that author did give her good feedback. The author also introduced her to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and referred her to an editor, who sent her a really nice rejection letter!
Around 2008, Jessica started to think about how fascinating it is that each of us sees the world “through a personal lens.” That led her to think about how we each see color, and once she had a title, she had a great beginning for her very first published picture book, My Blue is Happy. She only had to revise it 89 times before she got it perfect!
Jessica currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and their two children. Her next picture book, Spy Guy, is due out in the spring of 2015.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: One Four Kit Lit
Author interview: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
about the illustrator
Raised in a neighborhood in San Paulo, Brazil, Catia Chien was surrounded by diversity. At home she spoke Taiwanese and Mandarin, at school Portuguese. She was a little daydreamer who spent most of her time exploring outside, fascinated by bugs
Catia’s father died when she was young, but thankfully she had eight strong-willed, independent-thinking aunts who were there for her. And her big sister Louise became her mentor, helping with everything—even picking a career. Although her mother saw Catia as a “starving artist,” Louise supported Catia’s goals. They both ended up being artists; while Catia uses brushes and paints, Louise uses something sweeter. She is a pastry chef who makes sugar sculptures.
Catia now makes her home in California, and her interests remain just diverse today as when she was a child. She’s still intrigued by insects, but now she is also enthused about swing dancing and soup making!
With her fertile imagination, she finds that some of her illustrations are dark and heavy, others are ethereal and otherworldly, and some are full of crazy energy. Besides displaying her art in galleries in Los Angeles and Chicago, she also works on film and television animations. She’s thrilled to be writing and illustrating children’s books. She still gets to have fun adventures just like when she was a kid!
Sources:
Illustrator website
Illustrator interview: Ask Art
Also illustrated by Catia Chien:
A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz. HMH
Books for Young Readers. May 2014.
The Longest Night : A Passover Story by
Laurel Snyder. Schwartz & Wade. 2013.
read more!
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Alexander knew it was going to be a bad day when he woke up with gum in his hair and stumbled over his skateboard as he got out of bed. Sure enough, as the day goes on, he faces one disaster after another including a wet sweater, a cavity at the dentist’s office, and lima beans for dinner. Maybe he should just move to Australia!
Happy by Mies Van Hout
Each two page spread features a single word which expresses an emotion and a child-like drawing of a fish showing that emotion with his body language. For example, the “curious” canary-yellow fish glides googly-eyed toward something off the page, while the “nervous” fish is thin and long and looks miserable!
Olive and the Bad Mood by Tor Freeman
After a very bad day, Olive has turned into a major grump! The button popped off her dungarees, she fell flat on her nose, and she almost got conked in the head with a ball. She is so irritated that her friends turn grumpy, too! At the candy store, she finds herself feeling quite cheery again, but she can’t understand why all her friends are still so grouchy.