In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa - review

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa
Tricia Tusa is one of those illustrators with a wonderful, gestural style, whose work I always feel like I've seen before. Her Alice reminds me of the little girl in How to Make a Ni...oops yes well that's because Tricia Tusa illustrated How to Make a Night. Well that was a good night-time book too. Maybe somebody's pigeonholed Tricia Tusa as a go-to-bed illustrator. Weirder things have happened. Eric Carle has his own museum.

In this book, Alice says she can only sleep in a blue room. Her Mama (a very patient, loving mama, by the way) brings her four items to soothe her senses: flowers, tea, a soft quilt, and a windchime, and then, as Alice is finally just barely hanging on to consciousness, she turns off the light and the room is bathed in blue moonlight. The last pages show Alice's house on the Earth and the Earth in space, in a celestial "blue room".

You want to get some sleep? I'm telling you - this is one sweet, soothing big blue marble glass of warm milk.