Stuck with the Blooz
In this story about one girl’s battle with the blues, her feelings are anthropomorphized into a giant blue blob named Blooz. He’s got limbs, a bulbous nose, and is wearing what appears to be an old-fashioned striped swimming costume. You weren’t invited, the little girl says to Blooz, but he doesn’t care and proceeds to dribble into her glass of chocolate milk and trickle into her socks. The girl asks Blooz many questions to ascertain his raison d’être—everything from Did somebody forget your birthday? to Is your best purple crayon broken? But when the girl and Blooz do some fun things together, the sadness starts to lift and, before long, Blooz is heading off into the clear—well, blue—sky. Davis’ soft illustrations use plenty of white space and effectively bring a child’s internal struggles into focus. Blooz may be a blob, and he may be uninvited, but he is actually kinda cute, which makes this a nonthreatening tool for discussing negative emotions with young children. Grades K-3. --Ann Kelley