Article from Wild Things: In early 1970s’ America, the hippie culture was still in full swing, and the social values of the country were becoming increasingly progressive. Along came a wonderfully bizarre, hippy trippy morality tale of a picture book, a reflection of that time, which would become a cult favorite decades later, 1971’s The Blue Balloon by Frank Asch.
Asch wrote the cryptic Blue Balloon following a trip to India in which he encountered “many wise men and guru types.” After a lengthy talk with spiritual teacher Ram Dass, the story came to Asch, who was exploring his spiritual side and attempting to write children’s books that reflected this journey. “At that time, I wanted to express the deepest most profound truths in my books, rather than just make kids sleepy at bedtime. Not that these are contradictory objectives… I often thought about the bedtime story as the most auspicious time to suggest something of value to a little kid (and, therefore, the adult he will become). Just as they drift off to sleep, say ‘life is rich,’ and that message goes in deeper into their unconscious than at any other time.”
After his meal, the boy quite literally disappears (“POOF!”), just as the balloon once had. He grieves for the lost boy, who grows into a flower right in the spot where his body had once been.
