BLUE SPOT

There’s a blue splotch on Daisy’s new white dress—but how did it get there?

When Daisy shows Mama the spot, Mama immediately asks, “How did that happen?” The answer is anything but immediate. Daisy begins reporting events that seem initially to be potential answers: “It all started when I was drawing during art class with a blue pen”; using blue chalk for hopscotch; eating blueberries. But none of these caused the spot, and Daisy’s reports veer into the fantastical: “then it started raining blueberries!”; blueberry rain becomes blueberry jam; the jam spouts like a geyser; Daisy surfs a wave of blueberry pie; a blue monster sobs blue tears. The ever stretching tale saves the real answer for the end, where its very ordinariness makes a funny cap to the previous adventure-filled possibilities. Sastrawinata-Lemay’s digital illustrations are ebullient, with soft textures, soft edges, and, naturally, many shades of blue. Daisy and Mama are anthropomorphic cats with wide, round eyes (and the blue monster has nine eyes, all googly). Daisy often stares directly out at readers, which sometimes feels incongruous but also emphasizes that she’s the storyteller, not just to Mama, but to readers. Oddly, although their cat-shaped mouths can make plenty of varied expressions, Mama often sports an empty smile that doesn’t match the moment.

A stain is mundane, but this jovial yarn’s quite the opposite.