The Warmest Blanket in the World

Written by Tamara Levine

Illustrated by Ellie Arscott

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-410-8

24 pp.

Ages 6-8

February 2025 

 

While most of us are already thinking about the warmth of spring and summer, there will be many, particularly the elderly, for whom the change of seasons will not necessarily bring that which would warm their fingers and toes. For those with poorer circulation and other health issues, particularly those associated with aging, cold feet and hands can be problematic. And young Frida wishes she could do something to help her amazing great-grandmother Ama who says she feels like she lives in a refrigerator.

From The Warmest Blanket in the World, written by Tamara Levine, illustrated by Ellie Arscott

Frida enjoys visiting her great-grandmother as much as the older woman relishes seeing the child, telling her each time, "Do you know you've made my day? You're one special kid!" Ama tells Frida stories about her life and the importance of women fighting for their rights. (Frida even attended a protest with Ama once.) They sing songs together and they snuggle under her blanket. But even that blanket doesn't keep Ama warm enough. So, Frida gets some advice from her mom, her grandmother and her aunt.

From The Warmest Blanket in the World, written by Tamara Levine, illustrated by Ellie Arscott

Frida recalls what she'd learned of muskoxen which reminds her aunt, a knitter, of a mill in Nisku, Alberta where Tanis, an Inuk woman from NWT, prepares qiviut, the wool that comes from muskoxen. This wool is said to be the warmest in the world. 

From The Warmest Blanket in the World, written by Tamara Levine, illustrated by Ellie Arscott

Frida writes Tanis and explains how much she loves her great-grandmother and how much Ama has done to make things better for girls and women. Now Frida wants to help her. The response she gets is far greater than some skeins of wool.

From The Warmest Blanket in the World, written by Tamara Levine, illustrated by Ellie Arscott

There are a lot of layers to Tamara Levine's story of The Warmest Blanket in the World. There is a sweet intergenerational relationship between Ama and Frida. There is a story of activism and doing good and supporting the rights of others, particularly women and girls. There is also a story of compassion and sharing. And there's the story of the muskoxen and how the Inuit have spun the wool of these Arctic animals into yarn and clothing. That's a lot of stories, and Ottawa's Tamara Levine weaves them all together in a story of family. This is more than a story of a blanket. It's about who needs what, who can help, and why we should help. 

Ellie Arscott, who illustrated the award-winning Night Walk, keeps the lightness of family and the warmth of a blanket and affection in her artwork, done in watercolour and ink. There is realism, when she depicts the muskoxen on the tundra and in the sepia images of suffragettes fighting for the right to vote. But there is a quaintness in the patterns of blankets and bed linens, in the calico cat and in the coziness of their homes. Ellie Arscott keeps it all bright and homey.

 

The Warmest Blanket in the World is a tender story of family and kindness. It's wrapped in qiviut and embedded with affection and humanity. It doesn't get any more warm-hearted than that.

The Old Woman

Written by Joanne Schwartz

Illustrated by Nahid Kazemi

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-211-2

36 pp.

Ages 5-9

September 2020

 

As fall will soon blend into winter, The Old Woman seems a perfect read. Just as a calendar year trudges onto its end, an elderly woman and her equally-aged dog plod on in their lives, albeit in good company, never hurrying, getting where they will when they do.

From The Old Woman by Joanne Schwartz, illus. by Nahid Kazemi

When the old woman and the dog head out into the hills for a walk because she "wanted to hear the crunch of dry leaves under her feet and the wind whispering through the trees," she remembers the trees, boulder and rocks and "when she used to play outside for hours, never wanting to go in." They walk, they play–well, she tosses sticks and the dog chases them– and they rest and they appreciate what is.

From The Old Woman by Joanne Schwartz, illus. by Nahid Kazemi

It's hard to identify the mood of Joanne Schwartz and Nahid Kazemi's picture book The Old Woman.  Both the text and the art whisper of a melancholic story of an elderly woman and her vigilant canine companion. But it's not. This is a story of serenity and memory and togetherness. It has the heart that comes from many years of living, alone and together, of caring for others and contemplating the vastness of the world while appreciating the small domain created through companionship.

 

The Old Woman is not a story of loneliness, though some may see it that way, especially through the lens of a COVID19-inflicted society.  But it is not. The woman may be appear to be lonesome but the story is more about living each day as possible with an occasional look back to what was. It's this wistfulness that touched me. Between Joanne Schwartz's words evoking such emotional tranquility and Nahid Kazemi's ethereal illustrations of filmy chalk pastels and coloured pencils that give The Old Woman such solemnity, I cried each time I read The Old Woman.

 

I hope that when we all pass from fall to winter that we all have the companionship of a loyal friend and the will to appreciate what we had and have, even if more slowly.

From The Old Woman by Joanne Schwartz, illus. by Nahid Kazemi

 

The Missing Dog is Spotted

Written by Jessica Scott Kerrin

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-726-9

204 pp.

Ages 8-12

March, 2015

Two years ago, Jessica Scott Kerrin brought us The Spotted Dog Last Seen  (Groundwood, 2013) about Grade 6 student volunteers who help the Twillingate Cemetery Brigade and learn from the elderly Mr. Creelman and his cronies about reading epitaphs and cleaning grave markers.  But there was much more to that story, including a school’s time capsule, a spotted dog and a Mystery Book Club, and The Missing Dog is Spotted takes us to an earlier time to introduce those critical elements, while providing a great story in itself.

Sixth graders Trevor and Loyola may have a secret and unspoken pact that “under absolutely no circumstances were they to appear together side by side” (pg. 12) because of the  humongous disparity in their heights, but it seems the universe doesn’t know about that agreement, because, when they get out of volunteering together on the Twillingate Cemetery Brigade, they are then thrust together at the animal shelter to walk dogs for the elderly.  While the two kids walk their six dogs, they soon realize that everyone is more focused on the dogs, not them.  That’s okay since they will need to work together to help solve the mystery of Mr. Fester’s missing dog, Buster.  And that mystery is complicated.

The Missing Dog is Spotted may be based on Trevor and Loyola’s volunteering with dogs but it’s a far greater story about trying to do the right thing, accepting that sometimes things go wrong and can never be fixed, and guilt can be brutal.  Of course, I’m not giving away much about who feels such guilt or about what because it’s irrelevant–though you'll learn it soon enough when you read the book– since guilt is universal, even for those who could take a lesson in accepting responsibility for making the lives of others more difficult than necessary.  But Jessica Scott Kerrin doesn’t saturate The Missing Dog is Spotted with that guilt, though there is that anguish that is always involved when an animal goes missing and even more so when that animal belongs to an elderly person who adores that pet.  Instead, Jessica Scott Kerrin holds the angst back and ensures that The Missing Dog is Spotted remains a strong middle grade book that focuses on the concerns and misunderstandings that children and pre-teens might recognize, and still provides a happy ending, for a dog at least.