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THE BLANKET

Name: THE BLANKET
Author: Marie Dorléans
ISBN: 9781782509790

by Marie Dorléans ; illustrated by Marie Dorléans ; translated by Katy Lockwood-Holmes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 22, 2026

A soft, whimsical approach to a complicated subject.

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A fearful boy discovers the ultimate security blanket.

Tommy is frightened by everything: the wind, the ocean, even loud laughter. When a thunderstorm sends him scurrying into an armoire in his bedroom one night, he discovers a ludicrously large blanket and wraps himself within its folds. Tommy believes that the blanket has protective powers and begins to wear it everywhere despite its enormous size. Feeling a newfound bravery, he’s emboldened to try new things. But when the blanket snags on a branch and unravels without Tommy noticing, he finds himself alone and exposed in the snowy woods. Instead of panicking, Tommy marvels at sensory experiences like the feel of snowflakes and the sound of birdsong. These sensations ground him and give him the courage to live life more fully. Translated from French, the gently playful text brings a sense of lightness to the topic of childhood anxiety. Quiet, carefully rendered illustrations do the same; it’s impossible not to smile at images of the blanket smushing Tommy’s family and crowding his classmates. The poignant ending offers hope that life needn’t be defined by fear, though its simplicity has the potential to frustrate fearful children who know anxiety has no such magic bullet. Tommy has light skin and dark hair; his classmates vary in skin tone.

A soft, whimsical approach to a complicated subject. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2026

ISBN: 9781782509790

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Floris

Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: today

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PRICKLETRIMS GO WILD
by Marie Dorléans ; illustrated by Marie Dorléans ; translated by Polly Lawson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NIGHT WALK
by Marie Dorléans ; illustrated by Marie Dorléans

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SPAGHETTI HEAD & CHICKEN FINGERS

by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal ; illustrated by Erica Salcedo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2026

Wild and wacky.

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A picture book from the comedy duo known as Rhett & Link, creators of the online juggernaut Good Mythical Morning.

Lumo is obsessed with chicken fingers; Saffy, who is new to town and anxious about starting school, finds comfort in the only food she likes: buttered spaghetti. The night before the first day of school, a thunderstorm rages, and each kid makes a wish—“to have chicken fingers at school,” in Lumo’s case; Saffy wishes for “the first thing off the top of her head: buttered spaghetti.” File under “Be careful what you wish for.” Lumo’s and Saffy’s respective physical changes (chicken fingers for fingers, spaghetti for hair) make navigating school a challenge but bring them together in the cafeteria, where they enjoy some new foods—and their new friendship. The plotting could have been sharper: Why do the kids’ bodies suddenly return to normal? And couldn’t the authors have thought up a less old-hat story-ending punch line? Nevertheless, McLaughlin and Neal get by on their charm, and the plot sets up some funny visuals. Salcedo’s cartoony Photoshop art features well-chosen artifacts from a typical kid’s life and captures the mortification of not fitting in, which will be familiar even to readers who have never experienced breaded fingers or noodle hair. Lumo is brown-skinned and dark-haired; Saffy is pale-skinned with disheveled reddish-brown hair.

Wild and wacky. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: June 16, 2026

ISBN: 9780063474154

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperPop/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)