Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Bob's Blue Period
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Laurence King Publishing, 2018 ISBN: 978-1786270702
Bob the bird’s best friend is Bat, and the two animals are inseparable. They play games together, dance together, have tea parties, and best of all they paint together. Then one day Bat disappears and he leaves a note for Bird saying that he has to “go away for a while.” Bird is bereft without his friend. He mopes around until he decides to paint. Everything he paints is blue. He paints a blue banana, a blue orange, and a blue tree. For Bird there is “a big blue hole where Bat used to be.”
When Cat and Owl come to Bird to have their portraits done they are rather disappointed to see that Bird has painted them blue too. Bird’s friends decide that something has to be done to pull Bird out of his state of blueness.
When a friend goes away our lives can really be turned upside down. Suddenly nothing feels quite right, and we don’t know what to do with ourselves when our bestie isn’t around to share everything. In this sweet picture book Marion Deuchars explores, with sensitivity and touches of humor, what it feels like to miss a friend. As the story unfolds we see how important it is to try to hold onto the good things even when we are feeling sad.
