My Shadow is Blue

By Scott Stuart

Reviewed by Claire Monsour

My Shadow Is Blue by Australian author Scott Stuart is part of his “shadow series” (including My Shadow Is Purple and My Shadow Is Pink). Stuart is an author committed to creating content that empowers kids; in My Shadow Is Blue he explores the themes of toxic masculinity and gender stereotypes, encouraging children to stand up for what is right and celebrate inclusivity.

For this book, Stuart states Girls being treated differently to boys is not a new concept, but what if the boys took action? Stuart wants to gently explore how we are changing masculinity to be empathetic, while empowering girls to chase their dreams.

It’s a complex social issue to simplify into a picture book and make comprehensible for young children. I commend Stuart for tackling big issues…  but something in this book falls short. The conflict in the book feels outdated; we have generally moved past the attitude of girls can’t do it – toxic masculinity shows up in different ways in our society now. Parents and educators of younger children may not relate to a teacher telling girls to go to the back of the group, or saying all girls like to play with pink toys – we’ve thankfully moved beyond those comments being tolerated.

By trying to simplify and explain toxic masculine attitudes, the book unwittingly reinforces them through character’s comments (though I can run faster, they tell me I’m wrong) and outdated practices (my class gets split up into girls, into boys). The metaphor of the coloured shadows is confused through the illustrations: girls have many coloured shadows, but boys all have blue shadows, which appears more limiting for the boys than the girls. When other skills are highlighted later in the book, the shadow colours do not correspond; a boy with a blue shadow is good at science, and the same coloured shadow is used for being good at singing and good at mathematics. This is confusing for children to grasp, and difficult for adults to explain.

In the story, all the girl friends have different coloured shadows, and are interested in singing, dancing, climbing on the playground, and playing with each other. In contrast our main character, whose shadow is blue, only wants to run and finds it difficult to join in other types of play. The boys that we see all have blue shadows and are good at running (which seems to represent all sports and physical ability). There is no opposition from the boys’ perspective, despite this limitation – the girls seem much more rounded in their interests. The main problem arises when a girl wants to join the boys running, and the belief is expressed that girls cannot run as fast as boys. Resolution occurs when the boys speak up to demand that she is included equally (Stuart’s intended encouragement for boys to speak up against girls being put down). While this is absolutely commendable, there’s a risk that modern parents (especially mothers) may read it as another example of nobody listening to injustice until a boy (man) demands change.

There is potential in this narrative for great discussion about modern and complex social issues. However, as a picture book, it seems to be confused if it is a story that aims to explore gender equality, promote individuality and following passions, or encourage speaking up against injustice. To include all three themes becomes overwhelming. In order to fit it all into the narrative the points are distorted, and the story lacks depth and connection for the reader. This is in stark contrast to other books by Stuart, such as Alone (2022) which is full of emotion. I would love to see Stuart write a more complex version of this story for middle grade or even YA, so the issues may be expanded upon and various perspectives explored.

Ages 3-6

Larrikin House 2025

Scott Stuart