My shadow is blue by Scott Stuart

While all of her friends have shadows of various colours, the narrator’s shadow is blue. Her friends do all sorts of things, but her strength is to run. She runs over hills and mountains, and is ready to run at the sports day, but the coach separates the girls and the boys. Boys can run faster, he says so the girls must start at the back so they don’t interfere with the faster boys.

When the narrator protests she is sent off the field altogether. She listens for the race to start, but nothing happens. She realises that the boys have refused to run until everyone is there. 

They all run as a group, the overleaf showing that the shadows are all different meaning they have different interests and abilities. 

This is an unusual picture book, the shadow being blue, I had expected a story about depression, but it is about gender expectations. The person in charge certainly relegates the kids to their gender groups in competition in the activities, and it is the boys who complain and want everyone to be together. They respect the girls being involved, because if they win when they are separated, how can it be called a win.

This is an interesting look at gender stereotypes and promotes the idea that all kids be treated as equal. In rhyme the story is easy to read and kids will enjoy predicting the rhyming word.

Themes: Stereotypes, Gender stereotypes, Empowerment.

Fran Knight