My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald (Illustrated by Freya Blackwood)

 A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kobald, Irena. 2018. My Two Blankets. Ill. by Freya Blackwood. Little Hare. ISBN 0544432282.

B. PLOT SUMMARY

My Two Blankets is a story about a girl named Cartwheel that is forced to move to a new country after a war in her homeland breaks out. She travels with her Auntie to this new unnamed place with strange people and a new language. Cartwheel is initially scared and anxious about moving to a new place, but after an encounter with a girl she meets at the park, Cartwheel begins to feel less alone. She has a blanket that she hides under when she is scared, and it makes her feel closer to home. 

As Cartwheel continues to meet with the girl in the park, the girl begins to teach her new words. At first Cartwheel struggles to learn all of these new scary words, but eventually after a lot of practice, the words start to not feel as strange and foreign as they once did. As she grows more comfortable in this new land, Cartwheel begins to create a new blanket. Now, no matter which blanket she chooses to use, she will always be herself. 

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

On the very first page of My Two Blankets, the reader is already informed about the reason that Cartwheel and her family have moved: the war. I appreciated the fact that Kobald was so direct and up front about this situation, and did not try to hide or disguise the fact that this terrible event forced people to uproot their lives and leave. While there is no specific mention of which country our protagonist is from, I feel that this helps universalize this text and allow for people from different parts of the world to sympathize with our main character and her family. In addition to losing her home and everything she knows and loves, Cartwheel also must give up her name, telling the reader that, "Auntie didn't call me Cartwheel anymore." She holds on to her blanket as a tool to fight off the fear and anxiety that accompany a life-changing move such as this one. 

The images, specifically of the people throughout the book, by Freya Blackwood are fascinating. We see people crammed in trains, people moving about the cities, and people scattered throughout the park. The faces of these people were what really stood out throughout my reading - they were very feature-less, with many of the characters sharing very similar faces, regardless of their cultural background. The way we learn that Cartwheel is different from others is by her clothes and the color of her skin. There is no mention of being treated different due to looking different from others, and right away we have a character that is very different from our protagonist reach out and try to help her acclimate to her new surroundings. She does mention that no one speaks like she does, which is to be expected in a new place, and learning a new language, especially for someone so young, can be a scary thing to face alone. 

Additionally, the depicts of the two blankets and the details and stories that they tell really highlight different aspects of Cartwheel's struggle to become accepted in her new home. But as she learns the new words that the girl in the park brings her, the new blanket grows. This teaches readers that sometimes all we need is someone willing to be cross those cultural boundaries and to be our guide in new places to find comfort in a new home. The blue colors of the new blanket have a warmth to them, and by the end of the book, I found myself feeling as safe and secure in this book as Cartwheel did inside her new blanket. The plain, grayish backgrounds that we see throughout the beginning of the book are of stark contrast to the blue sky and colorful backgrounds that Blackwood chose to close out this book with. 

D. REVIEW EXCERPTS

"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 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

E. CONNECTIONS

Readers who enjoyed this book might also like: 

 Morales, Yuyi. Dreamers. ISBN 0823440559.

Sanna, Francesca. The Journey. ISBN 1909263990.

Choi, Yangsook. The Name Jar. ISBN 9780440417996.

Phi, Bao. A Different Pond. ISBN 1623708036.