THE STORY BLANKET

In this bland but worthy original tale old, Babba Zarrah sees that young Nikolai has a hole in his shoe and, having no other wool, secretly unravels part of the blanket she spreads out when children gather to hear her stories to knit him a pair of warm socks. As she sees others in need, the blanket mysteriously continues to shrink until it’s gone. When the mystified neighbors at last put two and two together they band together and unravel parts of their own blankets to give Babba Zarrah the wool for a new story blanket. Odriozola populates the small village setting with solemn, moon-faced figures, dresses the comfortably rounded Babba Zarrah in elaborately patterned housedresses and depicts both the old and the new carpets as colorful patchworks. In the end Babba Zarrah spots a hole in a young listener’s sweater just as she’s relating a new story about a community where everyone shares with everyone else—so much for the new blanket. A low-key discussion starter. (Picture book. 6-8)