My Elephant is Blue is a great book to use with children to talk about their feelings. In the book, the little boy is sad and he feels like he's carrying an elephant on his back. I could relate to that, and I think children will too. The beauty of the book is seeing how the family surrounds the little guy with love and support and what happens next is filled with hope. This is a perfect book to have at home, in school, and in the library. I highly recommend this simple story with great meaning. And the illustrations are perfect.

Wow. What an incredible view of how Depression hits children. As the book explains, an included "symptom" sometimes involves living (for a while) with an elephant on your chest to describe its heaviness.

Instead of forcing one to heal quickly, the story explains how it's best to let it heal on its own, and in time, one will feel better and start to not see the blue elephant but one of many colors.

What a healthy view of teaching and approaching mental health in children.

What a beautiful little book. Elephant is depressed, or more precisely, the elephant represents the depression experienced by the child in the book. I loved how the issue was addressed and how the family supported the child in finding ways to get the elephant off his back. There wasn't an immediate solution but it showed how little steps and connecting with the outdoors helped to turn the elephant pink. This would be an excellent book for a child therapist as well as families with young children who need help expressing their feelings.

This books turns the concept of grief into tangible, relatable content for kids. I enjoyed that the elephant never went away but that it became a part of their regular life - just like grief.

My Elephant is Blue is an excellent book for helping small children express feelings of sadness or loss. The illustrations are beautiful. The story would be a great conversation starter for teachers, parents, or therapists. This will be a good addition, to school, counseling, or home libraries. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

"My Elephant is Blue," invites to explore the experience of the burden of sadness. It is interesting and accurate for using a blue elephant to represent "weight" and "sadness" (blues), and how the changes in color represent the changes in mood.
A well written and comforting story with heart-warming illustrations. Ideal to teach young readers about overcoming grief.

I received an electronic ARC from Flyaway Books through NetGalley.
How do you cope when you wake up with an elephant on your chest? Szymanik shows readers how hard it can be to do anything with an elephant on you. Blue does not want to move away from the child. No matter how many times the child asks, Blue will not move. The family does research and offers options but none are successful until the child works with Blue to move together. The first walk leads to more and finally a family picnic and games. We see Blue change colors as the sadness lets go. A lovely analogy for younger readers who may not have the words for what they are feeling. The illustrations capture the emotions and energy level changes for the child, the elephant and the family. Terrific option for preschool and elementary level children to open dialogue on their feelings.

What a creative way to help children express the emotion of sadness or feeling down. This was well written, age appropriate and beautifully expressed. The illustrations were cute and engaging.

This is an important book for kids when they are feeling as though they are being crushed beneath a big blue heavy elephant. The book highlights how to deal and manage heavy feelings that they are experiencing.

A deep sense of sadness envelops a little child who tries hard to expel it alone but is unable to make it go away.

Mom and Dad are worried and encourage the child to cheer up a bit and smile at it. That does not work. Mom takes every book on elephants out of the library and starts reading. Dad calls an elephant specialist that someone recommends. There is no luck in dispelling the blue beast. Other ideas are pursued: perhaps chocolate? a walk? a picnic in the park? Something must enable that HUGE blue elephant to go away.

"My Elephant is Blue" is a very helpful exploration in finding how to recognize and manage living under the weight of sadness for a young child.

A reading guide with discussion questions based on the book, activities to help children explore its themes, and a list of resources for more information will be available April 2023 at flyawaybooks.com/resources.


The book is written so young children are able to better understand their feelings and anxieties. It is a wonderful way to open up meaningful conversations between a parent and child and the sadness that is overwhelming them. I highly recommend this book.

Finding good books to read when talking to kids about their big feelings can be hard. Especially when talking about hard feelings such as sadness or bouts of depression. My Elephant is Blue hit the nail on the head with the fun yet subtle way to help kids to “sit” with their feelings and feel them instead of stuffing them down. I absolutely loved it and so did my children.

This a book about being sad and finding ways to not being sad while understanding that its ok to be sad sometimes.

Do you ever wake up feeling heavy feelings that you feel like you have a elephant sitting on you. A blue elephant. A creative way to talk about those heavy feelings with your child. One important thing about feelings is being able to name those feelings and how they make you feel. Being able to express those, you don't feel alone.

Both parents and child will experience a freedom in reading this well thought out book. Highly recommend.

A special thank you to Flyaway Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

I wish I had a book like this when I was younger. It puts a kid’s perspective on depression. This is well written and the illustrations were kid friendly. Overall, a great read for kids and parents alike!

This was such a relevant and important book especially in the post Covid era.

It’s a kid friendly way to address anxiety and depression.

It was so well worded and illustrated. A great way to open conversation between a parent and child about feelings.

5⭐️

A sweet story and first introduction to anxiety/emotions. A great opportunity to have a discussion with kids about what they think blue, pink, and yellow represent,

I really like the illustrations. They were in a watercolor style with great detail.

I'd recommend this to kindergarten age or older.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flyaway Books for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

I will be posting my review to my Instagram page the.littlest.bookworm and retail sites close or at the time of publication.

This book would be a fantastic introduction to talking to a child about anxiety or other hard to discuss feelings. The way the family supported the child and Blue was sweet- all small steps into feeling better. The fact that Blue can change colors based on her mood at the end was a wonderful detail, and made for a fun discussion as to what we thought pink meant and what yellow meant.

This book is beautifully written to explain "big feelings" to younger children. "My elephant is blue" follows the story of a child that wakes up with a blue elephant. Him and his loved ones try to find ways to make the elephant go away. But through acceptance and finding new ways to exist with the blue elephant it begins to change... to pink! And the elephant changes other colors as well- their favorite is yellow! Sometimes the elephant is blue again, but now they know what to do so it doesn't stay that way. This book has breathtaking art and uses colors to further the feelings of an otherwise heavy topic. I would recommend it for ages 5+.