In a Blue Room

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck
Illustrated by Tricia Tusa
2008

     "In a blue room, Alice bounces, wide-awake past bedtime."  Her mom comes in and out of Alice's room bringing her different things to help her fall asleep: flowers to give off a gentle scent, orange tea to soothe her, an extra quilt to keep her warm and cozy, a lullaby to sing her to sleep, and yellow bells to chime softly.  But Alice loves blue, and those things aren't blue. That is until her mom turns the light of and whispers "Here it comes." Click. And the moon comes in "bathing everything in its pale blue light. Blue flowers. Blue tea. Blue quilts. Blue bells. Blue moon."
     In a Blue Room is a very poetic and tender bedtime story.  It's one of those books where you really notice the care taken in selecting the text that goes in each page to pace the story.  The illustrations are enchanting and indispensable to set the mood of the story.  I especially love the shift from the color into the blue of the night towards the final pages.  Both my kids where born under a blue moon, so this is one to keep in my bookshelf.