Small Bunny's Blue Blanket

April 9, 2012
Newcomer Feeney has a firm grasp of the less-is-more nature of picture-book storytelling. Small Bunny has two dots for eyes, two long loopy ears, and a scribble for a tail. His Blue Blanket is an amorphous slip of cutout blue tissue paper, and their story is as tightly written as ad copy. “Don’t worry,” says Mommy as she puts Small Bunny’s beloved Blue Blanket into the washing machine, “it will only take a minute.” “It actually took 107,” Feeney observes. “And Small Bunny watched Blue Blanket for every single one.” After Blue Bunny sweats it out in front of the dryer, he spends the rest of the story working to rid Blue Blanket of its freshly laundered smell, lying on it and bringing it to the beach until “Blue Blanket was just the way it was before. Perfect.” Airy movement is supplied by the shapes Feeney gives the blanket as it billows in the wind, trails behind Small Bunny, and lies crumpled in the floor beneath him. A fine dramatization of the classic childhood blanket drama, and a noteworthy debut. Ages 1–4.

April 15, 2012
Remember clutching that beloved childhood object to your chest? Closing your eyes to breathe in a smell as familiar as your own skin, readying yourself for the steepest slide or the darkest night? Small Bunny finds just this kind of comfort in his blue blanket, soft with wear and dirt, but he worries some of its threadbare magic will wash away when mother does laundry. Appealingly elemental line drawings aptly describe a straightforward story about a child's simple love of a singularly special possession. Hints of pink highlight Small Bunny's ears and cotton tail, sweetening and softening the nearly colorless pictures of the boxy-bodied rabbit with dot eyes. Faint blue watercolors accent specifics in his surroundings (an apron, a swing seat, water in the tub) and orient readers to the tiniest corners of his world. Small Bunny's blanket, appropriately, anchors every page. Trailing behind him on the swing or tucked under his bottom in front of the easel, it's the only swath of color, assuming new shapes and undulating with watery blues and rippling collage work. Feeney's winsome illustrations benefit from ample white space, which somehow endows each scene with earnest, emotional weight. Her words, succinct and spot-on, appear in well-spaced lettering (irregularly colored blue by hand) and float on the wide white backdrop. Unfettered, fresh illustrations communicate a child's bottomless love for a treasured possession. (Picture book. 2-5)

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May 1, 2012

PreS-K-Small Bunny's blanket is his constant companion. It helps him soar on the swings, paint great pictures, and even read hard words. So when his mother announces that the blanket, along with its owner, needs a bath, Small Bunny understandably objects. Mommy prevails, however, and eventually returns Blue Blanket, washed, dried, and "good as new!" But new, according to Small Bunny, is definitely NOT good. Not to worry, though, because after hours of playing and painting and reading, it ends up "just the way it was before./Perfect." The blue motif is carried throughout, from the title script that swirls above Blue Blanket on the cover, to overlapping blue shapes on the endpapers, to the minimal text printed in blue. The childlike line drawings that appear on large expanses of white space are occasionally filled in with hints of pale blue in contrast to the darker hues emphasizing Blue Blanket's starring role on almost every page. There are humorous touches throughout, such as Small Bunny and Blanket hiding under the bed and a page of sequential drawings depicting the little fellow watching his blanket twirl in the washer. Pair this enjoyable story with Kim Lewis's Hooray for Harry (Candlewick, 2006), about another favorite blanket hung out to dry.-Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2012
Preschool Ah, blankies. Here the blanket lover is Small Bunny, who does everything with Blue Blanket. Then one day Mommy decides Blue Blanket needs a bath. Small Bunny begs to differ but, as is usually the case, Mommy wins. She tells him Blue Blanket is just like new. Small Bunny disagrees. But after some painting, reading, and playing, the blanket does start to feel and smell like itself again. The story of blankets and those who love them is well-trod territory, but this take on the theme has a sweet, effortless charm. What happens is predictable, but Feeney illustrates her story with the simplest of ink lines (highlighted with touches of pink and blue) on wide expanses of white paper. Blue Blanket is a swath of collage that sweeps and drags through the pages, but it is not even visible in the book's most poignant scene when it's inside the washer. In nine distinct squares, Small Bunny watches the blanket go round for 107 minutes. Never has a bunny's back and droopy ears been so expressive.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2012
After Small Bunny's mom washes his constant (inanimate) companion, she insists that it's "good as new!" Small Bunny does "not like new," but he ultimately restores the blanket to its former glory. Message sinks any chance of a developed plot, but the stark, sometimes barely-there illustrations, rendered in a bunny-and-blanket-against-the-world spirit, are heart-tugging.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)