My yellow blanky by Sofie Laguna. Illus. by Tom Jellett

This delightful look at a comforting blanket kept by a young boy is very attractive. The bright yellow cover with the boy and his dog and blanket joyfully skipping across the page will entice readers to open this strongly made board book. They will recognise the comfort of a blanky or soft toy and feel at one with the child as they read. The yellow blanket exudes the smells of baby’s mashed banana, Pickett the dog, Mummy and his thumb. The blanky goes everywhere with the boy, but one day when he wakes, it is nowhere to be found.  He searches under Ted, and under Grandma, he looks in Dad’s Kombi. Where can it be? He races outside and finds it on the clothesline, looking even more yellow that before, and immediately sniffs it to see if the familiar smells are still there. He realises that the wonderfully familiar smells have all gone. Pickett grabs the blanket in his mouth and races through the garden, and the pond, the woodpile and the sandpit. Finally the two lie down on the blanket, content now to smell the whole world.

This is a wonderfully comforting story, a circular story which reveals how attached the child is to his blanket, then shows his sorrow at losing the blanket, and a warm conclusion when it is found again.

Tom Jellett’s illustrations are full of the fun and joy of family, of the love shown between its members, of the comfort of having a blanket to hold. The little boy features on every page along with his dog and the blanky. We follow the antics of the young boy and his dog, long suffering Mum as she wrinkles her nose when the blanky is held near her and the quizzical look on Dad’s face as he spies the boy and his dog about to get into his newly cleaned van.

Young children will readily recognise familiar ground, as the boy holds the blanket close. A warm family centred story to share with younger readers.

Themes: Family, Relationships, Loss.

Fran Knight