  | Out of the blue Author: Bach-Lauritsen, Rebecca | |
| Price: $23.76 | ||
Summary:
In a house where everything is arranged just so, there lives a boy whose days are filled with peace, quiet, and solitude. Every morning, he wakes up and follows the exact same routine, without fail, until the day something new appears, out of the blue: a bear!
| Illustrator: | Kjaergaard, Anna Margrethe |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (02/15/24)
Booklist (+) (07/01/24)
The Hornbook (00/05/24)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 07/01/2024 *Starred Review* At first it wasn’t there. Then, out of the blue, it was. The boy lives in an organized and finely appointed house with his cactus, his neatly parted hair, his garden and rain barrel, his afternoon tea with three spoons of sugar, and his well-preserved eagle feather. One morning, he wakes to find footprints in his garden and discovers a bear in his house. They hide. They seek. They roar and picnic and break things with joy. And there it was, out of the blue. The boy is no longer alone. “It” is never explicitly named—could be the bear, could be friendship, could be joy—but the feeling is warm and lovely. The prose uses simple repetition, sound effects, and onomatopoeia to artfully set the boy’s lonely stage. The illustrations are as poetic—simultaneously sparse and detailed—as the thoughtful and limited text. They are made with fine-lined pencil in almost entirely greyscale, but with tiny details of sky blue (geometric patterns on walls and floors and tablecloths, the flush of a cheek). The elegant and softly rendered style is a wonderful juxtaposition to the surprising brown swaths of luxurious bear fur. Translated from the original Danish, the storyteller and illustrator take their time luxuriating in this wholly original tale. It’s substantially longer than a typical American picture book, but every page is a tiny treasure. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.
