The Blue Scarf

When a “rain of fire” starts in her blue world, Layla’s scarf is blown away and lost. Desperate to get her precious scarf back, she sets off in a boat and visits others worlds of varying tints. Each world is composed entirely of shades of a single colour and is loosely based on a particular real-world region. Sadly, no one has seen Layla’s scarf. Finally, Layla arrives at a multi-coloured world where the residents point to the scarf which has been sitting atop the boat’s mast the entire time. Layla chooses to stay in the colourful new realm she has discovered and proudly wears her scarf every day. The concluding text clarifies that the scarf represents Layla’s identity and encourages readers to proudly wear their scarves everywhere they go.

The pleasing text manages to be both straightforward and lyrical at the same time. Its tone is reminiscent of traditional stories heard and read around the world. There is a reasonable frequency of rare words (such as “monuments”, “aromas”, and “intertwined”), which are embedded in such a way that young readers will often be able to intuit their meanings. The text is well placed so that it isn’t in conflict with the illustrations or background and utilizes an easy-to-read font. This is fantastic for pre- and early-readers.

A visually engaging book, the pictures are where this title really shines. The presumably digital illustrations make great use of single colour palettes and feature full-bleed spreads which immerse the reader into the worlds that Layla discovers. When Layla arrives at the colourful world, the sudden explosion of varying hues makes for an exciting transition. Each world features people, animals, nature, and architecture depicting elements of a real-world place (general regions rather than specific countries). It should be noted that a couple of the Asian characters have eyes that are depicted using a single arched or curving line. These two characters do not comprise the majority, however; there are a number of Asian characters that feature eyes of other designs as well.

Unsurprisingly, considering the plot of the book, there is good racial diversity in the illustrations. Humans sport a variety of skin shades, features (e.g., nose shapes), clothing, and accessories. Sadly, there does not appear to be any disability representation whatsoever. In fact, unless you count sunglasses, there aren’t even any characters that wear corrective lenses. There also is not much variety in terms of body weight or build. Admittedly, the art style makes this difficult to confidently assess.

The Blue Scarf is a warm story with truly lovely artwork that emphasizes the importance of multiculturalism and pride in one’s identity. Unfortunately, its message would have been better embodied with a cast of characters that differed in more than just race and culture.