In the Blue

by Erin Hourigan

Overview

An emotional and tender award-winning picture book that accessibly explores depression within a family, through the use of color.

I've always been my dad's little sunspot.
But one day, his world was no longer bright and yellow—it was a deep, dark blue.

As one father embarks on an emotional journey, his daughter will navigate life lived in and around his depression. Most days the sun won’t be able to peek through the clouds. But with each new wave of change, love will always bond them together.

This poignant and important story, with its use of color to indicate the ups and downs of one family's emotions, is an accessible way to discuss mental illness with young readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316497626
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/03/2022
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Erin Hourigan is the author-illustrator of the Schneider Family Book Award Honor winner In the Blue. In high school, Erin first learned of her dad’s clinical depression. As she grew up and embarked on her own emotional journey, she wanted to make a book that could spark conversations in families who may not always talk about such big emotions. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Erin invites you to visit her at erinhourigan.com or follow her on Instagram @erinnicholeart.

Editorial Reviews

A Schneider Family Book Award Honor winner

"The power of Hourigan’s metaphorical yet crystal-clear portrayal of depression lies in its simple but impressively evocative use of color symbolism....Sensitive, honest, and expertly done."—Kirkus Reviews

"An essential glimpse of the impact of one person’s mental health issues on the entire family, and a lovingly crafted path to a realistic resolution—not a cure, but managing."—SLJ

From the Publisher

06/03/2022

PreS-Gr 4—A small girl narrates against a rainbow background the joy of time spent with her father. Then the pages turn blue, as his posture and facial expressions become sad, and almost unreadable. Very little is explained, but the meaning is clear; her father cannot help the blue place he is in, and she has to wait for him to figure it out. She reacts with rage and frustration, while her mother quietly supports them both. There is a place her father goes for help, and the hint of a pharmacy, and slowly the pages grow brighter again, as her father becomes once more the man she knows. Like the seaside where the book opens, this book begins like the gentle lapping of waves and crescendos, emotionally, with the weight of the father's illness. Readers will feel the crush, and then the relief, as the family (who are all white) works together to go with the flow, without being overtaken by it. Back matter includes print and online resources and an author's note about her father's clinical depression. VERDICT An essential glimpse of the impact of one person's mental health issues on the entire family, and a lovingly crafted path to a realistic resolution—not a cure, but managing.—Kimberly Olson Fakih

School Library Journal

2022-01-12
A family comes to terms with depression.

A dad teaches his daughter how to surf in the ocean. He is “as tall as the sky,” and she is “his teeny-tiny sunspot.” He usually sings to her in the morning and tucks her in at night. “But right now, things for my dad aren’t bright and yellow. They are a deep, dark blue,” the girl reveals. Shrouded in cobalt shadow on the verso, the father hangs his head while the girl and (presumably) her mother look on worriedly from the sunny recto. Readers learn that when the father is “in the blue,” his “kisses don’t reach as far at night, and the morning is quiet and dim.” The girl tries in vain to cheer him up. All her family can do is “wait together in the blue” until he is ready to get help. They all see a Black therapist—“someone who knows all the colors, from sunny to midnight”—and Dad is shown buying medicine from a White pharmacist. After some time, Dad grows “bright and yellow again,” and the father-daughter surfing adventures resume. The power of Hourigan’s metaphorical yet crystal-clear portrayal of depression lies in its simple but impressively evocative use of color symbolism. The acrylic gouache and color pencil illustrations are suffused with primary colors that convey misery, joy, and anger and that sometimes blend, creating secondary colors that signify the many moods, faces, and grades of depression. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Sensitive, honest, and expertly done. (author's note, resources) (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews