Cathleen Daly

This review published by Brigham Young University's Children's Book and Media Review

Emily wants to be an artist, especially when she learns about a famous artist named Pablo Picasso. She wants to change her name to be longer to match his, mix things up like he did and mix things up like he did, even though her own family seems to be in cubes and all mixed up. When she goes to the store with her dad and her little brother, Jack, it is obvious that Jack is having a hard time with their family being mixed up too. Emily starts her blue period because when Pablo Picasso was very sad, he painted in shades of blue. Finally she learns how to make collages and she learns how to get out of her blue period.

At first it seems that this book is going to be about a little girl who loves art, but it soon becomes apparent that it is about much more than that. Emily discovers that she needs to work through her own blue feelings after her parent’s divorce. Because of her love of art, she is able to find a way to make sense of her new family situation. This book would be useful for art lovers, children whose parents are getting a divorce, or classrooms needing to talk about how families are sometimes different. The illustrations and friendly approach make a good effort to talk about this difficult topic for a young audience.… (more)

Emily is a young artist who looks up to Pablo Picasso and his art. She channels how she feels through her art just like Pablo Picasso. We see her work change as her feelings about her parents' divorce change, for example, she refused to use anything but blue when she was feeling sad. Though this was not explicitly stated in the book, the changes in her art were indicators to her teacher and mother that she was not handling the separation as well as it may have seemed. Though I wished this book mentioned specifics of what Emily was thinking about the changes in her family, I'm glad that in the end Emily came to terms with her father moving away and the fact that she had 2 homes because a home is indeed "where the heart is".… (more)

Emily loves art and she hopes to become an artist someday like Picasso. Picasso is one of her inspirations because she loves how he thinks outside of the box. Picasso had a time period in which he would only paint using the color of his emotion that he was feeling at the time. Emily is currently going through a lot in her life right now and is having to adapt to her father leaving the house due to her parents getting a divorce. Because of all that is happening, she feels sad so she decides to follow in her Picasso's footsteps and only paint using the color blue. This chapter book is great for teaching children how might be facing a similar situation as Emily that they are not alone. It is also helpful in showing them that they can turn that sadness and put it into something they like doing such as in Emily case it was painting.… (more)