Blue

The companionable relationship between a human protagonist and a blue heron forms the buoying heart of this wonder-filled work from Kaufman (All Are Welcome). First-person narration begins at daybreak as a brown-skinned child sporting galoshes carefully approaches regal avian Blue: “I tiptoe,/ rush.../ and pause...// ...echoing Blue’s stillness.” Before long, the unlikely pair frolics among a shoreline’s reeds, rejoicing in play (“We are wild./ We are free...”). Multimedia art has a loose, calligraphic quality as scenes cast in inky blues are illuminated with light emanating first from a warm, buttery sun and then a glowing, oversize moon. At sunset, “with an incredible leap and a mighty flap,/ Blue takes flight,” leading to a few hopeful beats and a starry, soaring adventure for both creatures that lasts until the child’s human body demands descent (“Up high, the air is thin and cold”). When it’s time to “say good night/ but not goodbye,” visual details (a costume, a mobile, a stuffy) tucked into closing domestic scenes leave the evening’s events open to interpretation, making for a meditative wish-fulfillment fantasy that leans into both adventure and security. Ages 4–8. (June)