I Believe in You by Dani Colvin

Title: I Believe in You

Author: Dani Colvin

Genre: Non-fiction

Publisher: Walker Books Australia

Published: 1^st August 2025

Format: Hardback

Pages: 32

Price:  $25.99

Synopsis: A gorgeous picture book with an important message. I Believe is a picture book for all ages.

I believe you can,
I believe you will,
Yes, I believe in you.

Blair is feeling blue. Not a nice, happy, sparkly blue … more like a holey sock on a winter’s day kind of blue.

Luckily, Grandpa is there with to share an important message and to share with Blair that the world is full of colour … beyond blue.

Full of wisdom, kindness and the gift of perspective, this book gently explores how we can embrace blue days, and how failure is integral to success and building resilience and self-belief.

~*~

Blair is feeling down and blue. But not just sad, she’s struggling to see the colour and joy in the world. It feels like something is crushing the joy and happiness out of Blair. Only Grandpa can help with a warm mug of hot chocolate, kind gentle words, and talking about the colour that Blair brings to the world.

Embracing blue days is hard, and let’s face it, we all have them. And however old we are, they can be very hard to deal with. They affect everyone differently, and impact our lives in different ways. Sometimes, talking can help, but there are times when things are really bad, and we might need extra special help. Dani Colvin’s picture book is a great start to help talk about mental health, blue days, and how to embrace needing help. How to embrace the small blue days so we can work towards a better result in school, at work, and in any other aspect of our lives that might be affected by these blue days. There are things we can all do, as this book shows, to try and get out of those funks. To make the day a little bit better so we can head into the next day seeing colour and joy.

Dani’s book also reminds readers that failure is okay. It’s a step on the way to success. It’s where we learn what works and what doesn’t. And believing in ourselves can help, and will help people become resilient. It’s never going to be as easy as a picture book. Some things might take a while to work, and some people might have a lot of blue days to work through before they can see the happiness in blue. Like a blue whale. But this is a book that can help explain why we might have blue days and blue feelings. Why some things might be so overwhelming, we feel like we are suffocating. And that it is okay to ask for help. Because everyone needs help at some stage. Nobody can do anything alone.

Books like this are useful to explore the big feelings we all have, but especially for kids who are experiencing them for the first time. It can help the whole family navigate blue days and feelings that are hard to name. Anyone can have mental health issues at any age. And sometimes, the gentle picture books like this can be very helpful. This is a wonderful story filled with heart and acknowledgement that it is okay to have blue days. Just don’t let them get as big as a blue whale. Save the whale for joy.