The Story Blanket

I picked up a picture book at our local independent bookstore. The Story Blanket, written by Ferida Wolff and Harriet May Savitz, illustrated by Elena Odriozola. I am always on the lookout for new and fresh looking illustration styles and the cover of this book, immediately jumped out at me.

I leafed through my new find and was happy to see that the cover wasn't the only lovely illustration there. Believe me, it happens often that a book doesn't measure up to it's cover, but not this time. "You didn't read the story?" you ask me, "It's a picture book, a quick read!" I have to admit a little secret of mine, I didn't read the story, and it's certainly not the first time I buy a book just for the art. Last night I read The Story Blanket to my 3 year old daughter. Oh, what a nice tale. I loved it. The main character Baba Zarrah unravels her beautiful story blanket piece by piece to secretly knit warm clothes for the villagers. There is a lot of snow and no way to go to the town for new yarn. The story is sweet and warm and good. And, as I said before, the illustrations are great. Every single page is beautiful. Elena Odriozola, I am a big fan. The layouts and use of white space in masterful, the bright colors complement each other fabulously and the character design is original and fresh. A new favorite book in our picture book library.

*