A Blue So Blue

I had been searching for this book since it's release, and thankfully, I finally remembered it's title. It is a wonderful story with a sweet ending. It is one of my 5 year old's favorite books.

"Diva," the 1981 thriller directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, contains a brief shot of a blue vase so beautiful that I remember the experience of that color more than I do most of the characters. The vase had little or nothing to do with the plot; I suspect that Beineix or his cinematographer was simply enthralled with the apperception of that one particular shade. "A Blue So Blue" is similarly concerned with sensation and aesthetic experience. A young, artistic boy dreams one night of the color blue-but not just any blue. He tries to find that one kind of blue when he awakens. He rummages through his paints and goes to the art museum in search of "the right blue...the blue of his dreams." He even dips his wet paintbrush onto the paintings to sample their blues! A guard suggests that maybe the "Big Blue Sea" is the blue of his dreams. He goes there, but it not the blue he is looking for. A sailor suggests the South Sea, and the boy, in a magnificent 2-page spread, is pictured sailing through a storm towards a tropical island. He dips his paintbrush into the South Sea sky, into a guitar's blue notes in Mississippi, and into an African chief''s blue turban. Finally, the boy finds his blue, and it's a little like "The Wizard of Oz": All the time it was in his own backyard (or front yard, or wherever his mother is). Unlike the blue vase in Diva, the book's cover does not convey the experience of reading "A Blue So Blue." Jean-Francois Dumont's imaginative, dramatic, gorgeous pictures won the prestigious France's Saint-Exupery Award for the best-illustrated children's book of 2004. Dumont captures the essence of the different settings as well as the emotional climate. Furthermore, Dumont writes colorfully, evoking the boy's adventures and longing in both prose and rhyme. Here's just one example of the boy many attempts to convey his dreamed-of blue: "'Night after night I've been dreaming of blue,' the little boy said. `A blue so blue it's both precious and plain. A blue so blue, it's hard to explain. Can you help me find the blue of my dreams?'" Dumont employs his own `precious and plain' half-rhyming prose to narrate the boy's adventures and the advice given by the various well-meaning adults. "A Blue So Blue" speaks to-and shows us--the joy of art and painting, and the sometimes-incomprehensible mixture of beauty with emotion. Children will love the strong portrayals of the guard, the sailor, the blues guitarist, and the searching boy, as well as his voyages and eventual return to his blue-eyed mother. The illustrations have a vibrant immediacy and truth that will appeal to a wide age range. Produced on high quality paper with excellent color reproduction, this book's presents an authentic and memorable aesthetic experience in a very accessible context. Very highly recommended.

This is a wonderful book. I bought it to read to my three year old and both of us love it. The illustrations are beautiful, the prose is brilliant, and the story is magical. Every time we read it, it sparks a new discussion. I have no doubt this will be a favorite for years to come. This is truly an award winning book.