Abby Voss
Little Blue
What does it mean to feel blue, and what can we do if a feeling of sadness suddenly comes over us? This short story about a child’s temporary bout of the blues, shows us a way to interpret this and even overcome it.
Justine was born in the sea
However, at the same time, Justine was quite
They kept getting tangled with each other, she would mix them up, or they kept getting in her way. When she wanted to do something with one, she often mistakenly used the second or third - and did even more damage.
Sometimes, she accidentally scattered a jellyfish’s bag of underwater balls or tripped and fell into the path of the sea snails, which were slowly racing on the sandy bottom. At other times, her tentacles became so tangled that she couldn't untangle them. She twitched and pulled so hard that she scared off the small coloured fish, and they swam away
The playful sea creatures liked to tease Justine. So did other sea students. But that only made Justine nervous, and she was even more clumsy then. Eventually, she became so ashamed of her clumsiness that she preferred to stay away from everyone. She swam alone for days and was very sad. It seemed that wherever she swam, she heard only giggles and whispers
“Look at that awkward octopus!” they called at her as she swam away.
To avoid being teased, Justine began hiding in sea corals and boulders. She mastered the secret trick of all octopi: she learned to change colours to disguise…