Kenny and the Blue Sky

by Richard Kopley

A kid can touch the grass, a bush, a flower, a tree—but the blue sky?  No, that's out of reach.         

But in Richard Kopley's new children's book, Kenny and the Blue Sky, Kenny just has to reach out, for the blue sky has come to him!

With the blue sky right there in his backyard, Kenny and his friends run and play and fly.  And when the blue sky starts to lift, they implore it to come back—and it does!  For these children, the memory of the visit of the blue sky will certainly endure.

The story grew out of Kopley's own memories of the blue sky from his early childhood in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1953 and 1954.  "The blue sky was this gorgeous, unreachable thing, "Kopley says, "almost a third parent, protective and hopeful.  I wanted to recover my memory of that blue sky for today's kids."

Kopley tells a story of one boy's longing and love with lyrical language, beautifully complemented by the endearing water-color illustrations of artist Jane Ramsey.  In this book, through memory and imagination, a child's blue beyond is now here.