Isla and the Sky
Greg Stobbs
Oxford Children’s Books

Isla sees Sky differently from other people and this is reflected in her paintings. Sky has a variety of moods: sometimes she is rainy and people complain about her dreariness and grumble about the awful weather. Isla however loves the sky on the days when it rains – those dancing, swirling clouds – and with her paintbrush she creates swirls of purple, white, brown, blue, pink and many kinds of black she sees. She loves the sunset on such days and brushes gentle pink and pale yellow across her page. Equally she loves the deep inky black sky on a cloudy night and paints that too.

Come morning Isla’s bedroom is filled with sunlight and this bright blue delights everybody. “If only every day were like this,” Isla hears them say. This is a day to use her bright blue paint. The sky that night is gorgeous – star filled and stunningly beautiful. Several days and nights like this ensue: Sky smiles and Isla paints, again and again and …

The lack of rain causes the landscape to change, Sky’s smile starts to fade and Isla’s paintings are boringly the same for she misses the variety of weather. The girl is just about to give up painting but decides to try something different first. She climbs high up a mountain and calls to Sky offering her help. Sky finally sees Isla and explains why she’s been people pleasing rather than being true to how she feels. Isla’s encouraging words and her paintings might just change this.

How will the people react if Sky reverts to expressing her true emotions? And will Isla start painting again?

A touching tale of emotions and artistic representation, gorgeously illustrated by the author showing how important it is for big feelings to be understood and supported.