Emily’s Blue Period by Cathleen Daly (review)

Emily, a devotee of Picasso, may enjoy mixing things up in her art, but she’s not happy when it’s her family that’s mixed up and her father leaves the house to live “in his own little cube” of an apartment. Emily’s funk affects her painting, sending her into her own version of Picasso’s Blue Period. An assignment in art class (“I want you to make a collage of your house”) leads her into introspection about the nature of her home, and it’s this work that eventually allows her to make peace with the new arrangement. The clipped text has a robust and knowing energy that makes this a bracing complement to more tender stories of post-split adjustment (Stanton’s Monday, Wednesday, and Every Other Weekend, BCCB 2/14); Emily’s artistry is treated appreciatively, and her relationship with her little brother, Jack (who’s also none too pleased about the family developments) adds both humor and authenticity. The book’s format is a cross between a picture book and an early reader, with a trim size between the two, chapter breaks dividing the sparely texted episodes, and much of the dialogue appearing in speech bubbles. The art doesn’t always match the imagination of the text, but the focused, modest scenes set against copious white space add accessibility, and there’s effective pacing in the shifting layouts that move between busy assemblages of spot art and the occasional dramatic double-page spread (as when an angry Jack loses it mid-store). While this could inspire some art projects for kids who want to symbolically represent their own lives, it’s also a nicely underplayed look at family change that will speak to many youngsters’ experience.