My Two Blankets

by Irena Kobald, Freya Blackwood (Illustrator)

Overview

Cartwheel moves to a new country with her auntie, and everything is strange: the animals, the plants—even the wind. An old blanket gives Cartwheel comfort when she’s sad—and a new blanket just might change her world.

This multicultural story of friendship is about leaving home, moving to a foreign and strange place, and finding a new friend. It's a story for all who have experienced change. Irena Kobald’s poetic text, paired with Kate Greenaway medalist Freya Blackwood's powerful paintings, renders an emotional and heart-warming story about two children from diverse backgrounds coming together to become new friends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544432284
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD480L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Irena Kobald is multi-lingual Austrian immigrant to Australia, who teaches aboriginal children in Australian outback communities (the closest shop is 250 kms away!). The children she teaches use English as a fifth language (many speak several Aboriginal languages). 

Freya Blackwood grew up in New South Wales, Australia, and created several of her own illustrated books as a child. She is the illustrator of many acclaimed picture books published throughout the world, including My Two Blankets. After time in Sydney and New Zealand, she now lives in New South Wales with her daughter. www.freyablackwood.com.au

Editorial Reviews

With its bold visual metaphors, My Two Blankets ingeniously captures a child's efforts to weave the old with the new.

The New York Times Book Review - Eugene Yelchin

* "Loneliness, cultural displacement, tentative friendship, and an explosion of sharing and kindness are accessible even to very young readers...An amazingly lovely import." —Kirkus, starred review "With its bold visual metaphors, "My Two Blankets" ingeniously captures a child's efforts to weave the old with the new." —New York Times Book Review "The blanket metaphor is powerful, and the way that sounds are depicted through shape and line works well." —School Library Journal "The illustrations, a combination of watercolor and oils, heighten the effect of the thought-provoking story. Just the right format for children to think about immigrants and friendship." —Booklist —

From the Publisher

★ 2015-06-10
A girl her auntie used to call Cartwheel must flee from a land of war to a place where they can be safe. She finds life there hard and cold, so she takes refuge in a metaphorical blanket of words and memories from her former life. In the park one day, another little girl smiles at her, then brings her to the swings. More than that, she brings her words, and Cartwheel says them to herself, again and again. The text is exquisitely simple, and the watercolor-and-oil images complement, expand, and illuminate the words with magic and delight. Cartwheel is always brown and orange and gold, as is the blanket she weaves in her imagination of the words and sounds of home. The other girl is blue and green and pink and pale yellow, and she brings new words to her friend in the shape of origami forms. As Cartwheel weaves those words into a second blanket of those colors and shapes, they unfold on the page in beauty. Loneliness, cultural displacement, tentative friendship, and an explosion of sharing and kindness are accessible even to very young readers. The final image of Cartwheel teaching her friend how do a cartwheel tugs at the heart with joy. An amazingly lovely import from Australia. (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews