"A beautiful and visionary story about the ways young people help us to see! So excited for Joy Jones's voice in the world."

- Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning and bestselling author, Young People's Poet Laureate 2015-2017, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature 2018-19, and MacArthur Fellow,

"Robert draws the sky using the colors he sees to capture what it looks like and that's not blue. Even when his teacher asks, 'Shouldn't the sky be blue?' Robert still draws what he sees. A sincere story portraying a confident, artistic student's perspective."

- Hadeal Salamah, librarian, co-founder of Hijabi Librarians, 2022 Newbery Award Selection Committee member,

"<i>The Sky Is Not Blue</i> is a wonderful journey from fall to spring in a primary, inclusive, classroom where a child, Robert, believes his teacher—Mrs. Murphy—is a marching band without music and fun. Robert is an independent thinker who speaks with authority and trusts his convictions. Mrs. Murphy insists he use a blue marker to color the sky in his classroom drawing. Robert, however, sees the sky as a prism of different colors and textures: grays, mists, milkshake-like thickness, framed by dark bare wooden branches. The sunset he sees is spectacular without any shade of blue trapped within. Mrs. Murphy describes herself as saggy and draggy due to a lack of sleep. One thinks, however, that she is stiffened by her flood of tasks to teach her students new things. On the last day of school she finally sees her students—as bursting with wonder. The overlay of illustrations and words is a rich—and vibrant—tapestry of the learning process."

- Sharon Bell Mathis, award-winning author of Ray Charles, The Hundred Penny Box, and Teacup Full of Roses, as well as other books for children and young adults,