Children's Fiction Depression & Mental Illness
Unnaturally Blue
- Publisher
- Kids Can Press
- Initial publish date
- Jun 2025
- Category
- Depression & Mental Illness, Poetry (see also Stories in Verse), Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance, Water Sports
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781525311338
- Publish Date
- Jun 2025
- List Price
- $23.99
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 4 to 8
- Grade: p to 3
- Reading age: 4 to 8
Description
A richly imagined picture book about finding your way back to yourself.
A young swimmer panics in a crowded community pool, and it feels like there isn't even any room for her tears. Out of place where she was once at home, the girl swims down, down, into the deepest deep ... and embarks on a surrealist journey to the swampy world under the under. As she rests there with her feelings, the girl finds power in embracing who she is - even the swampiest parts. And her triumphant return to the pool inspires the other children to be their truest selves, too.
This dreamlike picture book models creative ways for children - and adults - to visualize and understand their big feelings and accept their inner selves. Award-winning illustrator Byron Eggenschwiler is at his imaginative best, delivering art that pairs beautifully with author Dorson Plourde's poetic magical realism.
About the authors
Dorson Plourde is an author and elementary art educator. At home, his studio is full of picture books, good tunes and paints ... but mostly spots for his cat, Theo, to snooze on. Originally from Portland, Maine, he is now based in Boston, Massachusetts. You can find him online at www.dorsonplourdebooks.com.
Byron Eggenschwiler is an award-winning illustrator whose recent books include The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason, Operatic by Kyo Maclear (starred reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal and Quill & Quire), Coyote Tales by Thomas King and Beastly Puzzles by Rachel Poliquin (starred review from School Library Journal). Byron’s work has also appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Walrus, GQ and O, The Oprah Magazine. He lives in Calgary, Alberta.
