Blue Floats Away
words by Travis Jonker
pictures by Grant Snider
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021. 40 pages.
Review written July 26, 2022, from my own copy, signed by the author
Starred Review
Full disclosure: Travis Jonker is a librarian friend. I served on a committee with him at one point and say hello at conferences, all after I followed his blog, 100 Scope Notes. It made me happy when ALA Annual Conference was finally in person again to get a welcoming smile along with the signed book.
The book is a simple story of an iceberg calf named Blue who suddenly breaks off from the iceberg where he lived with his parents. All the characters are expressed by iceberg shapes with three dots for their faces.
The words are simple, and the pictures really make it special. They are also simple, done with what looks like collage and torn paper, but it’s colorful and beautiful. Blue floats away and sees new things. Beautiful things.
Just after he’s made friends who helped him figure out how to get back, he melts away —
But Blue wasn’t gone.
He was changing.Blue mixed with the ocean water,
evaporated,
condensed,
and was transformed.
Now Blue sees more new things. And learning about air currents, he finds away to get back to his parents in the North.
“Were they ever surprised.”
This is a simple and happy story that would work great in storytime, but there’s also a note in the back about how Blue’s story illustrates the water cycle. So you’ve got some very simple science to go with it.
A really lovely picture book with a happy ending.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/blue_floats_away.html
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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