Yesterday I Had the Blues

• Age Range: 3 - 7 years

• Grade Level: Preschool - 2

  • Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award
  •  Nick Jr. Family Magazine Best Book of the Year
  • Claudia Lewis Award --Bank Street College of Education
  • Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 2003 Blue Ribbon
  • 2004 Best of the Best List--Chicago Public Library
  • 2004 Carolyn W. Field Award Honor Book--Pennsylvania Library Association
  • Featured on the PBS/WGBH show “Between the Lions”

For classroom and reading resources, click here.

SUMMARY

Ever had the blues?

One boy had them bad--not just the ordinary blues, but the "deep down in my shoes" blues, and the "go away Mr. Sun quit smilin' at me" type of blues. Eventually he trades in those blues for greens, the "runnin' my hands along the hedges" greens, the kind that make him want to be somebody.

Yesterday I Had the Blues, illustrated with bold, colorful art, begs to be read aloud. This book will have readers of all ages learn about emotions and how moods can be associated with colors.

REVIEWS

“Christie’s raw, expressive acrylic-and-gouache paintings place almost childishly rendered figures against deeply saturated full-bleed backgrounds, amplifying every emotional erg of the text.Christie’s bold full-page paintings echo the heroic spirit”—Kirkus Review

“The boy then muses on the states of mind of everyone in his family, a subject well suited to Christie's visual finesse. The artist's off-kilter perspectives and playfully skewed proportions reinforce the intensity and fluidity of mood swings, while the array of saturated, textured hues infuse each spread with emotional depth.”—Publishers Weekly