Blanket

Written and illustrated by Ruth Ohi

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-614-1

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

August 2022 

 

Readers and writers know the power of words. Words can evoke and reassure, anger and subdue, and enlighten and confuse. They can do it all, or it would seem. But sometimes words aren't needed for an impact to be made. Author and illustrator Ruth Ohi makes this subtle and powerful point with her first wordless picture book, Blanket.

From Blanket by Ruth Ohi

Sometimes it doesn't matter if it's sunny outside and the birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming. Inside, really deep inside, is where it can still be grey and that sunshine cannot reach. Yet.

From Blanket by Ruth Ohi

When Cat awakens to the grey inside, they take their turquoise blanket and burrow under it. When Dog shows up, they see the lump that is Cat beneath the blanket, but Dog does not demand anything of Cat. Dog sits down nearby and quietly reads. With time and still beneath the blanket, Cat snuggles over to Dog. Eventually, Cat lifts the blanket and allows Dog to enter and share their protected space.

It's obvious that, while the darkness beneath the blanket offers Cat security, it is also a place where fears can grow and take over. But Dog has a flashlight and the two play with the light before Dog suggests using the blanket to create a shelter over two chairs. It gives Cat the security they need but offers more light and something else. It's a first step to feeling safe enough to venture outside and transform the blanket from shield to shared comforter.

From Blanket by Ruth Ohi

While Ruth Ohi's charming animals are easily recognizable for their sweetness and emotional depth, Blanket is so different from her earlier picture books because of its wordless nature. I've always been delighted with Ruth Ohi's books (e.g., No Help Wanted; Fox and Squirrel, The Best Christmas Ever; Kenta and the Big Wave); still, Blanket is so impressive in its story and messaging that it will sit with me for a very long time. (Though I love sharing books with others, I'll be holding on to Blanket for myself.) Blanket reminds us that, if someone is dealing with sadness or depression, it is not up to others to decide how to help them. When an individual is dealing with an internal greyness, everyone wants to help but seldom–only in dire circumstances–should another decide what is needed. Dog knows this. With time and patience, a flashlight and some playfulness, Dog is able to offer Cat opportunities to come out from the shadows of the blanket. It's still up to Cat when they are ready to move from beneath the blanket into the light. And with few colours and strategic lines of smiles and eyes that are dim and then bright, Ruth Ohi tells us all this in her moving illustrations. Even in the darkness of Cat's sadness, Ruth Ohi has given us light through her art.

A blanket can be so much more than a coverlet for a bed. It can be shelter and armour, defense and offense, and love and fear. It can hide and reveal. This is Cat's blanket. It offers them the opportunity to hide from the world but also reveals Cat as they are to Dog. There is power in that blanket for good and I'm so glad that Cat used it as they needed and that Dog was there to take their cues from Cat.

Hello, Dark

Written by Wai Mei Wong
Illustrated by Tamara Campeau
Pajama Press
978-1-77278-221-9
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
October 2021

Tomorrow's release of Wai Mei Wong and Tamara Campeau's picture book Hello, Dark may herald the use of a new strategy for young children to help them cope with their fears of the dark. After all, the dark will always be there and if there's a way to make friends with it, it's certain to make bedtime and sleep time much easier.

From Hello, Dark by Wai Mei Wong, illus. by Tamara Campeau

After a child has been put to bed, he sits on his bed, facing his closet and begins a conversation with the dark. Starting with a cordial "Hello, Dark," he begins to recite what he knows of the dark, such as that it creeps in when the sun goes down and keeps him wide awake and worrying. He knows of the creaks and the sounds it makes, hiding everything in its shadows and making him feel helpless and alone. But tonight the boy is determined that things will be different.

I'm tired of being afraid of you.
Tonight, can we talk?

From Hello, Dark by Wai Mei Wong, illus. by Tamara Campeau

Now the child recounts all the good things that the darkness helps to happen, from animals like the fox and the owl that feel safe in the shadows and the moon and stars that can only shine when in the darkness.

Thinking that maybe the dark isn't scary but really just lonely, the boy offers to be its friend. He suggests that they talk about happy things, play imaginary games–the dark makes a good shadow pirate–count sheep, breathe, and listen to music, many strategies offered to help all of us fall asleep. But by making the dark his partner in those strategies, the child removes the dark from a sleep-inhibiting role and truly makes it a friend.

 

From Hello, Dark by Wai Mei Wong, illus. by Tamara Campeau

Too many parents and teachers dismiss children's fears of the dark by telling them that there's nothing to be afraid of. Sadly, that does not eliminate the fear. By addressing a child's fear as something tangible, even as a dark amorphous form, Wai Mei Wong has let this child have his fear and helps him, and every child who reads this book, to cope with it. He is every child and so his solutions to deal with the dark could also belong to every child. Moreover, by having him try a variety of strategies from breathing to listening to music, using his imagination and self-soothing through talk, Wai Mei Wong offers children opportunities to make friends with the dark for themselves.

Artist Tamara Campeau could have given the night the eerie nature that many children attribute to it but this deeply-coloured book is anything but dark. Tamara Campeau, who recently illustrated the gorgeous Grandfather Bowhead, Tell Me a Story, uses rich blues and purples to evoke the night but permeates the child's room with the primary colours, even if subdued in a lack of light. From his pajamas and bed covers to growth chart and books, everything that is familiar to him is always there, even if the dark is too, and reassures children that all those much-loved playthings and familiar bedroom items will still be there in the morning. 

If you know a child who struggles with the night, Hello, Dark will offer them more than one way to cope with being left in a room without light, the greatest of which is embracing the darkness as a companion, not villain.

Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night

Written and illustrated by Graham Annable

First Second

978-1-250-21130-9

128 pp.

Ages 6-10

April 2020

Peter and Ernesto, the two sloths from Graham Annable's first two books, A Tale of Two Sloths and The Lost Sloths, return to bring us another wonderfully heart-warming tale of friendship from deep in the tropical jungle.

From Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night by Graham Annable

Peter, the more cautious of the two sloths, is trying out his new wind sock, made from fabric their sloth tree mate Bernard had found. Sadly there is no wind but Ernesto, always up for an adventure, wants to go check out a dragon that the motmots assure him has been seen at the spooky old temple by the river.  Not surprising that when the sloths discover Bernard is missing, Ernesto is convinced their friend has gone to see the dragon because, of course, that's what Ernesto wants to do.

From Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night by Graham Annable

Even though the cautious Peter isn't convinced, he and the other three sloths (Stu, Rodrigo and Lola) follow Ernesto, meeting a swooping bat who warns them to be careful in the Dark Glades on the way to the temple. Though an owl, who thinks the sloths are very large mice, causes some consternation for the five sloths, a meeting with a polka-dot tree frog becomes a magical experience when he and his friends light the way for the sloths through the blackness of the Dark Glades.

From Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night by Graham Annable

But getting through the Dark Glades is but one step in their search for Bernardo and/or the dragon at the temple, and it takes a turn when Peter falls from a broken zip line.  As Ernesto and the three sloths find their way to the temple and make the acquaintance of a different kind of dragon, Peter is meeting a river otter who is rebuilding a boat.  When everyone finally comes together, with new friends made, new alliances forged, and songs sung to ease their journeys, Peter and Ernesto and friends discover Bernard had found shelter and comfort far closer to home than anticipated.

Because the text is very light and much of the story is carried by the illustrations, Sloths in the Night is a great reading bridge between early reader and middle grade. Regardless of the austerity of his words, animator and cartoonist Graham Annable approaches the big issue of fears–of the darkness, of the unknown and even the known–with sensitivity, acknowledging that fears are very personal and cannot be disregarded just because another finds them unbelievable. As different as Peter and Ernesto are, they recognize the strengths and weaknesses in each other, appreciating attributes they themselves do not possess and accepting these differences as strengths. Even more endearing is the empathy they show to others, whether it be a homesick dragon or an otter with wanderlust, as well as to each other.

From Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night by Graham Annable

Graham Annable has created another modest story in Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night. It's modest in its messaging and matrix of story i.e. words and art. But it's also bold and assured in addressing the nature of fear and the power of friends to help. Like the polka-dot tree frog, Sloths in the Night illuminates the way through.

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Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths (2018)

Peter & Ernesto: The Lost Sloths (2019)

Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night (2020)

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