"Some days Mama is bright like the yellow part of a rainbow. Other days, Mama is flat like the scratched surface of our kitchen table. So I tell Mama a story . . . " A girl tells about a misunderstood dragon as a way to understand her mother's unpredictable emotions and reveal her love for her. Gr 1-3-The narrator, a young blonde girl, recounts good and bad days with her mother, who struggles with unspecified mental health issues. Some days are full of laughter; some days, spontaneity; and some days, sadness, in which the mother cannot get out of bed. All the while, the girl tells her mother a story of a princess, a queen, and the dragon next door who is sometimes nice and sometimes scary. The girl concludes that the dragon can be "dangerous AND clumsy AND kind," and that her mother loves her the best that she can. Each spread begins with a metaphor about the mother, and some of these convey more than others. In one, "Mama is bright like the yellow part of a rainbow," and the two enjoy popsicles in the sunshine. Young readers may have a more difficult time understanding the mother when she is "flat like the scratched surface of our wooden table" or "thirsty like a wilting plant." Ruiz's beautiful illustrations project more than metaphors of the text. Color and light show the emotions of the two characters without feeling too heavy-handed. When the girl and her mother are together, they are in their own world; no other characters are shown, even as background. When the mother cannot get out of bed, an arm gently leads the girl away, though the entirety of the person holding her hand remains subtle. VERDICT Important for the understanding messages that are comforting without hitting too hard, this book is best shared one on one, and should be available wherever books on mental health are needed.-Lindsay Loupα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. "Important for the understanding messages that are comforting without hitting too hard, this book is best shared one on one, and should be available wherever books on mental health are needed." - School Library Journal Andi Diehn lives with her family and too many pets in rural New Hampshire. She earned an MFA from Vermont College and has published 11 books for children, plus many articles, essays, and short stories for adults. Being part of a family that knows the struggle of maintaining mental health has been an ongoing lesson in resilience and courage. Ángeles Ruiz was born in Barcelona, Spain, on a cold winter night. When she was a child, reading was her favorite subject at school. That was where her passion for creating magical stories and picture books started. Her mom was an artist who painted landscapes on canvas. She dearly remembers playing and painting in her mom’s studio surrounded by paintbrushes and paint tubes. Ángeles paints with both traditional and digital brushes using textures and colors in her work to evoke magical environments and emotions. She has illustrated several books for children, including The Lost Kitten by Leyla Torres and Valentina and Monster , which she also wrote. She lives with her husband, her little daughter, and a gray and white cat named Gus in a red brick house in front of the forest near the Mediterranean Sea. When not illustrating, she loves to explore nature, go to the library, and spend time with her family.