Blue

Suzanne Kaufman is the illustrator of the the New York Times Bestseller ALL ARE WELCOME series, written by Alexandra Penfold. They are wonderful, beautiful, and inclusive books that I imagine make DEI haters combust with nonsense and anger. Penfold’s text celebrates the joy of differences, and Kaufman’s characters pepper every spread in a charming variety of flavors. No central protagonists, rather a lot of different children, which Kaufman does very well, and each child is worth following throughout the books.

There is just one child in BLUE, the newest penned and illustrated book from Kaufman. One child and one great blue heron, known here as Blue.

Told in first person, the boy narrates his day by the shore. He meets a heron and is immediately taken with it. They become fast friends. All day long is spent shrieking and splashing and leaping and chasing and even standing as still as can be.

But even for the wild and the free—which they both are—days eventually come to a close.

As the sun begins to set, the boy watches Blue with an incredible leap and a mighty flap take to the night sky. He waits and waits—and hopes—for Blue to return against the deep indigo night sky.

Kaufman’s art is always fascinating to me. She may be one of the most prolific sketchers I’ve ever met. And she is always toying with new media. Whether serious and professional materials or some new child’s art  supplies. In this book, the illustrations were done with pencils, watercolors, charcoal, pastels, brush pens, and sticks on watercolor paper. 

And the images are beautiful. The scratchy, uneven, textured, washes, rubbings, and palimpsests of each spread make for bright/dark, luminescent/reflective environments. You know the summer day this all happens in. Whether you’ve spent the day with a great blue heron or not, you KNOW this summer day. You can feel the slight chill the night brings. And mostly you can feel the affection between both Blue and the boy.

Kaufman’s renderings of the heron are masterful in her sketchy style. There is no mistaking it for anything but a great blue. we recognize the birds movements, whether standing still or taking flight. And of course the boy is typical Kaufman, engaging with a full range of emotion.

There is something reverent about this story. Something that rings familiar about it to me. It is about joy interrupted but never lost, maybe it’s about hope, I’m not sure. But I can say that there is something magical about it. 

~kevan atteberry