My Elephant is Blue written by Melinda Szymanik with cute illustrations by Vasanti Unka is a realistic, funny, and hopeful read about childhood mental health problems. This easy-to-follow and lovely book will really resonate with younger readers but can also help struggling adults as well!

The unnamed narrator wakes up one morning with a huge blue elephant on their chest. It is hard to do anything: they cannot breathe, eat, or even go for a walk. The narrator’s family members try to help with suggestions, chocolate, and even trying to physically remove Blue. But, nothing works. Will the narrator ever be able to make Blue go away?

I really loved this book! It promotes such a healthy and relatable attitude to mental health. I wish I had something like this growing up to help with sudden and heavy feelings. I think this book will be an excellent resource for helping little readers deal with sadness, grief, and other heavy feelings that can be hard to name.

The book is written in very easy-to-follow and simple language. I like that the narrator simply wakes up one morning and suddenly has Blue on their chest. It’s realistic because heavy feelings do not always stem from a specific problem. I also love the different types of support and help offered by the narrator’s family members. It’s gentle, well-meaning, and quite realistic. I particularly like that the book ends hopefully and organically. The narrator eventually comes to terms with life with Blue and learns how to navigate her different colours and moods.

Unka’s full-page and full-colour art is so quirky and fun! I particularly love Blue the elephant and her various expressions. I really like the simple but effective use of her changing colours to communicate emotions. The narrator is spunky and adorable. I love that they remain unnamed and genderless so that it would be easier for more kids to relate.



🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘 out of 5 elephants!

Book 286 of 300 ~ 2024

🌟🌟🌟🌟

What a clever way to speak to children about such a deep topic - their feelings and how to cope with them.

Brilliant. More kids and parents need to read this together.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#book286of300 #amreading #netgalley #tbrpile #instareads #readstagram #reading #bookreview #bookreviewer #booklover #booksAreLife #booksForTheWin #thisbookfairyisreading #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramfeature #bookshelf #booksofinstagram #bookish #bookworm #goodreads #booklovers #theSGbookfairyReads #theSGtrekkiereads #bookaholic #bookaddict #bookchallenge2024 #reviews #lovebooks #booknerds

I will be quick to recommend this book to parents. It's so important to introduce children to mental well-being and complex emotions from an early age, as most of us will experience these at some point. While some children may not fully grasp the significance of the colour-changing elephants, it provides an excellent opportunity for parents to explain and discuss these concepts.

I really enjoy the illustrations in this book. The pictures are captivating and easy for both children and adults to connect with. Using colours to represent emotions is a smart way to help kids understand and identify different feelings. Plus, using blue to depict sadness, is a great way of nudging children to think about the story’s meaning as blue is so traditionally associated with low moods. As such, parents can easily use this as a starting point for discussing emotions with their children.

Ultimately, this book serves as an engaging and effective tool to start conversations about mental well-being with children.

Depression/phases of severe sadness can affect everyone - including children.
And that's how it is with Blue, it's just there and there's no real explanation.

One day, the protagonist wakes up and there is a big, heavy, blue elephant sitting on their chest. And the elephant is still there when they brush their teeth. It hangs from the shoulders and makes it quite impossible to move.

The elephant introduces itself as “Blue” and sits on the lap. The parents make an effort, but no matter what they suggest, somehow everything is difficult with Blue.
The siblings also try their best to push Blue away. Nothing helps.

The parents take Blue seriously. They acknowledge the sadness/heaviness/depression/depressed mood and offer things that could help, but don't patronize their child.

Even if Blue doesn't feel like eating, she can at least be persuaded to go for a short walk. Slowly, the narrator feels their way towards what feels safe and good for both of them. Blue never goes away completely, but Blue is also pink, yellow and other colors.

A sensitive book that captures the nuances well and doesn't make any absolute statements or suggest solutions.

My elephant is blue. A book about big, heavy feelings
Text: Melinda Szymanik
Illustration: Vasanti Unka
Verlag: Penguin Random House New Zealand, 2021
👛 digitales Leseexemplar via NetGalley.com

Elephant shows up one morning, unexpectedly and makes it very hard for this little girl to focus or get anything done. In fact, this blue Elephant weighs her down and affects her own feelings and moods to do anything she typically would do before. With the help of her family and much patience, she learns just what Elephant needs to not feel so “blue”. This story relates colors to feelings. Sometimes, things can weigh heavy on us and cause us to not be ourselves. The important thing to remember is that it’s okay to feel how we do, and know that in time, feelings change when we take care of ourselves and are patient with ourselves and each other. I liked that Elephant changed colors later in the story, reflecting that feelings annd moods aren’t permanent. This story could be useful in a school social lesson on emotions. I received an arc copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a lovely picture book about emotions, especially the heavy blue emotions that we all get from time to time. It's not obvious or direct, but it will open a conversation with the little ones. My favourite part is the healing process and how sometimes it simply takes time to deal with our emotions and how there isn't always a quick fix available, not even chocolate.

Sometimes we feel blue and then we change to another color. It was a good way to explain emotions and how to deal with them.

Such an artwork!
This is a very important book discussing mental health, big feelings and how to cope and deal.
I loved reading this, the illustrations are beautiful and the elephant changing colours is a great visual assistance when discussing this very important subject with kids. A brilliant book, a must-have in every house!

When a blue elephant visits a little boy, the little boy struggles. The elephant does not seem to go anywhere.
Days pass, and the boy’s mood and his choices for that particular day change. So does the elephant.
Adorable drawings and characterisation.
This book is about accepting all emotions and feelings and learning to navigate the good and the bad. At least, this was our take.
Luckily, this was not on the nose, however, we wish it had been longer and contained other feelings than the ones in the book. On the other hand, the way it is makes it suitable for younger children as well as older readers.

This is a lovely picture book about emotions, especially the heavy blue emotions that we all get from time to time. It's not obvious or direct, but it will open a conversation with the little ones. My favourite part is the healing process and how sometimes it simply takes time to deal with our emotions and how there isn't always a quick fix available, not even chocolate.

This book allows children to learn about depression in an easier way. It makes their feelings valid. I really liked this book. The only part I had an issue with was the dad offering him food to make him better. Hopefully that will not lead to depression eating.

Melinda Szymanik writes about BIG feelings in her book 'My Elephant is Blue'. Have you ever felt so down that you felt as though an elephant was sitting on you? In this story, a little girl wakes up one morning with an elephant sitting on her chest. She has difficulty moving, breathing, or even speaking. "I'm Blue." says the elephant. The elephant is crushing me, so I ask it to move. It's perfectly happy where it is. It sits on top of me. When my parents try to cheer me up and tell me to smile, I tell them that it is hard to smile with an elephant strapped to your chest. Despite their efforts, my siblings are not able to help me. Additionally, my parents make an effort to help me. Dad suggested going for a walk. The only thing Blue did was ignore me when I asked her. In the end, Blue and I went on the walk dad suggested. My family decided to go on a picnic the following day. It was a lot of fun! On the way home, I felt lighter than I had in a long time. It was as I held Blue's trunk that something changed. Blue! You are turning PINK! "That is because I don't feel so blue anymore."

You'll have to read the book to find out the rest of the story.

I highly recommend this book. When young children are struggling with BIG feelings, it is hard for them to express themselves. This book is excellent at describing how the emotions may feel and how to overcome them. Children learn that it is okay to feel sad and that there are things they can do to help turn their feelings around. If you have a child or group of children who are hesitant to discuss their feelings, this book is a great way to begin the conversation. I enjoyed the colorful illustrations. They are simple and not overwhelming at all. For a more calming effect, lighter tones and pastels are used. This is a great book that I recommend.

How expressive the premise is!!!🤩
It symbolizes sadness as a blue elephant sitting on your chest and heaving you. 
 
 _"It's an elephant," Mom and Dad said.
"Surely it can't stay forever. It's bound to move on sometime."
I hoped sometime was soon._
 
May everyone's elephant turn pink and set free!🥹🩷🩷🩷🩷

This sweet and important story is about feelings and what to do when you feel overwhelmed with sadness. I like the use of blue and an elephant as those are two concrete ideas that kids would be able to connect with difficult emotions. Blue is also used in lots of self-regulation programs to identify sadness and similar emotions so I think that it would connect well to many therapeutic and classroom settings. I would definitely recommend this book. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review My Elephant is Blue.

This is a book about "big, heavy feelings," and it does a good job of describing some of the feelings a child may be experiencing when they are living with sadness. It also gives some suggestions for ways to get through a moment, like taking a walk or having some chocolate.

I know this is a really difficult subject and it's good to see a book addressing it with young children. I think this would be good with k-1st grade kids. I found it a little bleak (but realistic and honest) to think of a young child learning to live with depression (my interpretation). But also glad to see so much support from their family.

My thanks to NetGalley and Flyaway Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is cute and helps children understand how emotions can make them feel. The pictures are gorgeous and perfectly match how depression/sadness shows itself in different ways. I like that the girl experiences different symptoms and her parents try to find ways to help her including taking out books from the library. In the end, there is no magical solution. The girl needs to find a way to live with her feelings and understand that they may be different every day. Highly recommended for libraries and parents.

"Verisimilitude"

This is a book on glooming girl. She felt pain on her chest for varied reasons and thought of it so heavy as an elephant sitting over her, one morning when she woke up.
Blue is the color of sadness and low mood, so I would say Melinda described this factor so well in her picture book, metaphorically.

She tried a walking with her sadness and went to picnic her mother set to spend family time on and to lighter her mood further. With time spending with her blue, she realised when she started taking things on lighter note, the color of elephant turned to pink, a color for joy and happiness. Once, some more time she spent with that pinkish elephant, it started to turn to yellow, a color of warmth, hope and optimism.

This is a complete book on the sense of colors and the mood or nature (of humans) they resembles. A good learning for children. Also, with activities, Melinda depicted for how one can turn their sadness into joy and hope and learn to handle such situations or mood swings derived from those situations.

Some of the days everyone feels a little blue, sadness creeping up unexpectedly and without any apparent cause. We as adults can deal with our blues but how about kids who do not understand what exactly is sadness?

There comes this book for the rescue. My kid is still young to understand it but I'm definitely going to keep this book for the future purpose when she has a blue elephant sitting on her chest making her uncomfortable.

My girl anyways enjoyed the story as elephant , in her language "Hathiphant" ( she mixes hathi -Hindi word for elephant with elephant) is her favorite animal. She has been captivated with elephant for his unique feature and also because one of our Gods -Ganesha has elephant's head and rest of the human body.

She thoroughly enjoyed the book and she even showed me how the Hathiphant changed the colour towards end. She liked blue Hathiphant more though as blue is her favorite color.

I definitely will recommend this to all parents and teachers out there who want their kids to learn more about blues.

Thank you very much Netgalley and flyaway books for this amazing ARC in exchange of an honest review.

OH MY GOD. I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. It’s so important for both kids AND adults to read. Sometimes worries or anxieties or our emotions can feel like an elephant on our chests. It’s important for EVERYONE to understand that it’s normal and even if we have all the help we can get, it isn’t so easy to move our elephant. And that it takes time and it’s never really gone, but it can change.

Ugh, I just adored this.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this one. What a wonderful way for students to learn about positive ways to experience their feelings. The illustrations were beautiful and added to the text. This is a great book for children of all ages.