My two blankets
Author: Irena Kobald
Illustrator: Freya Blackwood
Original language: English
Published: September 2015
Publisher: Houghton-Miffin
ISBN13: 978-0544432284
Price: € 15.62 (HC)
Age: 7 years and up
My Two Blankets is a beautiful, sensitive picture book that helps children understand How hard it is to leave everything and everyone behind and start all over again. How lonely it feels to live in a place where everything is very different from home and where you can't understand anyone nor they you.
But also that you can adapt to your new place and still remain yourself. How - if enough time has passed - you can even feel at home. Especially if you make new friends, because that really helps!
Born in Austria writer Irena Kobald wanted to see the whole world even as a child. After living in different parts of the world including Russia, she lives now - since many years - in the desert area of The Northern Territories in Australia. Besides writing children's books she teaches the native children.
Illustrator Freya Blackwood is a born Australian, she is living with her daughter Ivy, their dog and 4 chickens in Orange, near Sydney. Her drawings - in her distinctive soft, romantic style together with the earthly colours - give My two blankets an extra dimension. The specific colour use in the book emphasizes the differences between an African and a Western society. Beautiful!
Three hopeful shining stars for My two blankets, from the young snazzie-readers!