I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. A very pretty book about colors starting with the blue of the ocean.

My Ocean Is Blue is a simple but lyrical story made up of a series of descriptions of the ocean from a young girl's point of view as she visits the seaside with her mother for the day.

She observes the ocean and its many differences throughout the day, from high tide to low tide, from shallow water to deep, and more. She points out the colors that can be found if only you look for them, such as red crabs or polished green sea glass.

The illustrations are delightful, with a neat collaged or layered look with fun texture and everything we love about the sea! Especially all the blue!

The text is very minimal, which makes this a great book for little listeners or beginner readers, and has a calming and peaceful effect. It's the perfect book for introducing children to the ocean or as a great book to bring along on a beach day trip!

My Ocean Is Blue by Darren Lebeuf is sweet perfection! It's about a young girl and her mother at the beach, and all the different things she encounters and observes. The illustrations look like mixed media cutouts, and have such beautiful colors and depth. The colors are calming and are shown in all parts of the ocean - a great learning tool for young kids. I enjoyed that this story is inclusive, as the main character is differently-abled and doing things that are totally "normal". Overall, a sweet story with a nice message!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley.

My favorite thing about this book is that it portrays a girl who is differently-abled doing things that are completely "normal". I LOVE that part. The story itself is ok, it didn't leave me feeling wowed or with the overwhelming desire to read it over and over again. The illustrations are beautifully done and colorful. They follow the story well and capture the different textures that are seen at the ocean/beach.

This is a good book for talking about how one thing in the world can be full of contrasts (both big and small, straight and wavy, etc).

Overall I would recommend this book because while it didn't leave me wowed- for the right kid it definitely will and the representation is SO nice to see.

If your kids loves ocean, this book may just a book you may want to add into your book collection. My Ocean is Blue told a story about a girl who spend a day in on the seaside with her mom. First, this book make me want to go to the beach with my mom. Okay, continue with the review... There she saw a lot of different things, from little crab to swimming dolphins, hear a lot of things and sometimes it just a complete silent. It is a book would really really help young kids to broad their views on ocean :) I think it is really not for people on my age (I mean I still enjoy the illustrations though :)), but it would be perfect to little kids.

This is a cute story about nature and how vast and colorful it is. There's something new to discover every day!

This is a story featuring a little girl who uses crutches to help her to walk. I liked that this child could still do things and get around, even though there is some kind of issue with her walking. She spends a day at the beach with her mother. This story shows and describes her observations of that ocean. She sees it in its variety of colours and characteristics- big and small at the same time, shallow in some places and deep in others, slimy, sandy, sparkly, dry and wet. She uses her senses to see and hear the ocean, the 'splashes and crashes and echoes, and squawks'. I really enjoyed the illustrations. They were mixed media with some cut-paper illustrations, along with with collages, watercolor and acrylics. They showed the ocean moving, and breathing. This was a very unique story showing the powers of observation and description. The vocabulary was beautiful and would evoke discussion of what various words mean. A great book in any primary classroom. It would also make a great story to read before a vacation to the ocean. I definitely recommend this one.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a delightful book about a little girls day at the ocean and how things change all day long. It's a beautifully illustrated book and even though the book doesn't have a story as such, it gives beautiful descriptive language to boost a child's vocabulary and imagination throughout the story, and also celebrates the beauty of exploring and beautiful nature places too. I really enjoyed this book and my little one did too.

Wow, totally didn’t dig this one, though I loved the author’s previous *My Forest Is Green*. In that book, I got the sense that the boy’s forest was in his mind—he created his forest in various art forms, and that’s how he was able to hold and have a green space while not necessarily (I thought) in a place to have access to a real forest to explore. So “My” forest made sense, and I thought of it as an ode to imagination and self-care as well as nature.

I need to read that one again, because this follow-up, with a literal ocean and nothing but, makes me wonder if I was reading the first one incorrectly. The cut paper illustrations are equally gorgeous, but the “my” made less sense to me, and I didn’t find the text particularly artful. I read it twice to see if I was missing something, and I guess I’ll read it carefully once more, because I’m still confused as to why it’s being called a companion text to *My Forest Is Green*. The only similarities I see are in the illustrations, title, and author. Huh. (But yes, +1 for featuring a protagonist who uses arm braces, beautiful, subtle ones thanks to the illustrator).

Grateful to have received a digital preview via #netgalley

This book is a wonderful look inside a day at the ocean. The illustrations, created with collages, watercolor and acrylics are beautiful and create a beautiful look into all the different things that the ocean can bring.

Such a beautiful and unique book. I really enjoyed the mixed style of illustration and layering. Also a great addition is that the child is differently-abled.

The kids will enjoy such an evocative book, even those who have never actually been to the ocean. It's also a great book to use when the kids are learning adjectives. I espeecially liked that the main character is disabled, but absolutely no mention is made of it and there's no "oh, look what she can do even though she's got crutches" feeling to it. It's treated as a completely normal situation.

The protagonist of the story is a little girl who uses crutches to help her to walk. I could really relate to her as I spent almost a year using them as a child. The girl spends a lovely day with her mother/ caregiver. She sees the ocean in its variety of colours and characteristics- big and small at the same time, shallow in some places and deep in others, slimy, sandy, sparkly, dry and wet. She focuses on sounds -the 'splashes and crashes and echoes, and squawks' - and marine life in its glorious diversity.
There is a lot of repetition which is important for a very young reader and a lot of vocabulary building to help your child describe their sensory experiences.
The cut-paper illustrations are simple and gorgeous at the same time. I would love to read more books illustrated by Ashley Barron.
Charming, original, inclusive, and beautiful.
Thank you to to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Beautiful illustrations, inclusive plot and simple sentences, perfect for early readers. My Kindergartener loved this book and so did I!

I thought that this was a lovely book, I loved everything about it from cover to cover.

The images were lovely and the book is just the kind that my daughter loves. The way the book was set out was perfect and the flow of the story was spot on.

It is 5 stars from me for this one, I thought it was a lovely book - very highly recommended and one my daughter loved!

I really really liked it. Beautiful illustrations show a girl's trip to the beach with her mother. The protagonist uses arm braces that are never mentioned in the text, which is great for diverse picture book protagonists (which I try to expose my kids to whenever possible) and also is really cool to have on a character on the beach. Able bodied people like me often have ideas of other people's limitations and that's not always true so showing her on the sand with her braces and swimming without them was really lovely.

The text plays mostly with opposites (but sometimes just differences) and was perfect for my almost 4 year old's level. She's at the point where she likes to pretend she can read, so the repetition had her reading along with me from the first time. The illustrations are a case of the perfect medium for the story, a lot of play on texture of waves and sand, while managing to have a nostalgic or timeless quality. It made me think of my childhood summer visits to the beach as well as taking my kids nowadays. We were both pretty charmed by every part of it. I'll definitely look into buying a hard copy for us when it comes out.

I was able to read this through Netgalley, but my review and opinions are wholly my own.

The very first thing I want to say about this is how happy I am that the little girl who is the main character has a disability. I think more books need to be inclusive and show us all of the different “normals” that there are. I honestly didn’t even notice that she had a disability, which I found beautiful.

This was a really cute book. I loved the artistic style used and the simple language. It would be really great for children to learn a bit about the ocean as well as inclusivity, change and paying attention.

A companion to My Forest Is Green comes this lovely book that focuses on the seaside.
We see in this book how the ocean can be described as more than blue as it reflects of an array of things around it. This book has such a poetic vocab, and encouraging the learning and use of new words.
The beautifully cut-paper illustrations are just as lovely here as they were in My Forest Is Green.

This is a bold book that celebrates marine habitats. There isn't really a specific plot, but the premise and the discoveries to be found, don't warrant a need to have one.. A lovely book in experiencing the ocean landscape over the course of one magical day.

From the team that brought us My Forest Is Green comes this lovely companion volume that focuses on the seaside.

A little girl goes with her mother (or perhaps aunt or friend) to the seaside. While there, she explores everything the ocean and beach have to offer, comparing and contrasting its qualities. The ocean can be many different things at different times, or even all at once.

Ashley Barron's beautiful cut-paper illustrations are just as lovely here as they were in My Forest Is Green. She's quickly becoming one of my favourite picture-book illustrators.

This is a strong book that celebrates marine habitats. There's no plot, really, but the premise doesn't need one. The book's strength is its ability to show a child fully experiencing the ocean landscape over the course of one magical day.

A really pleasant book that serves as a companion to Darren and Barron's "My Forest is Green", and is to my mind much better. Here it's a girl at the seaside, on a packed day trip with her mother of boats and kayaks, sandwiches, splashing about, picnicking and all told seeing countless changes in the coastal environment around her. This is a sea that is still, dynamic, squidgy, metallic, and so many other things. This book can be called upon to encourage a poetic vocab, and to not just accept the bog standard lie that the sea is 'blue' – just as the other volume's forest was seldom just green, so this runs the gamut of all the senses before we find we've failed to define the mercurial ocean. But what I also loved was the way our heroine was a user of walking sticks – there's no reason for it as far as the script is concerned, and she only needs them when standing or walking on dry land, but the artwork proves a young reader can be cute and not a hundred per cent 'abled'. Still, I found this to full of pleasant touches, so I'm not sure why I singled that one out, but it warmed the heart to see. Five stars, for that.