The Sky Is Not Blue by Joy Jones & Sawyer Cloud

Happy Black History Month, readers! We’re kicking off February with this terrific children’s picture book about perspective and empathy and quietly standing up for yourself, because who couldn’t use a little more of that right now?

Robert is a creative kid who has the eye of an artist. He never assumes that anything is just one color or only ever a certain color. When it comes to art and the human experience, he trusts what he sees instead of making assumptions based on how things “should” be.

His teacher Mrs Murphy is almost his complete opposite. She likes things to be predictable and orderly, even when making art. If you’re going to paint a picture of the sky, for example, she thinks you should use the blue marker, regardless of what the sky actually looks like at the moment of depiction. She’s usually too busy to look for herself, after all, so it’s easier and tidier to just default to blue, regardless of whatever spectacular array of colors is actually on display. She and Robert often butt heads, but nicely, on what color the sky is.

On the last day of school, Robert finally uses the blue crayon to color the sky before saying goodbye for the summer. After he leaves, Mrs Murphy can’t help looking at this final piece of art he’s left her and feeling, strangely, a sense of loss. Robert has finally done exactly what she’s been insisting on all year, so why does she feel like she’s the one who’s been defeated? When he comes back in search of forgotten crayons, the two sit down and draw together, in an unspoken truce where Mrs Murphy finally accepts that not everything can be neatly categorized away, whether it be colors or papers or joy.

There is a lot unsaid in this seemingly understated but extremely powerful picture book about being open to different experiences and points of view. Neither Robert nor Mrs Murphy is wrong, and each has valid reasons for their choices, but Robert’s quiet resistance against his teacher’s well-meaning but short-sighted guidance eventually shows her that she’s doing everyone, herself included, a disservice by insisting that her point of view is the best one. It’s good to be orderly in your organization of materials, but extending that to your thought processes cuts you off from the kind of beauty and joy that are chaotic (so, most of it.)

I loved, too, how Robert and Mrs Murphy are both Black, with a cast of characters that is also very diverse. While this book isn’t explicitly about race, it allows Black people to take center stage with a universal message, and that’s just as valuable (especially in this current political hellscape.) I also really appreciate that this book centers Robert: while Mrs Murphy certainly learns an important lesson, she is neither the main character nor the emotional focus of the book, tho older readers will certainly empathize with her. Whomst among us adults hasn’t been so busy that we default to assumptions instead of pausing to enjoy the wonder of life as it happens, after all? The Sky Is Not Blue is a phenomenal book for both kids and adults, and deserves to be in every library.

The Sky Is Not Blue by Joy Jones & Sawyer Cloud was published October 29 2024 by Free Spirit Publishing and is available from all good booksellers, including