Ah, the special attachment to a childhood blanket. In the Caldecott Honor winning book Owen, by Kevin Henkes, Owen is a young mouse that has had a fuzzy yellow blanket ever since he was a baby. “Fuzzy” goes wherever Owen goes, upstairs, downstairs, inside and out. Since Fuzzy likes whatever Owen likes, Fuzzy also has stains like juice, chocolate milk, and applesauce cake. Everything is fine for Owen and Fuzzy until their next door neighbor, Mrs. Tweezers, tells Owen’s parents that Owen is too old to be carrying around that blanket.
That night Owen’s parents tell him that he puts Fuzzy under his pillow that the Blanket Fairy will leave an absolutely wonderful big boy gift in its place. Owen is a very resourceful young mouse who knows his own mind. He stuffs Fuzzy inside his pajama pants so that the Blanket Fairy won’t find his blanket.
Owen’s parents began to complain that Fuzzy is dirty, torn, and ratty. Owen says Fuzzy is perfect. Fuzzy plays pretend games with Owen. Fuzzy helps him become invisible, and helps him through scary things like dentists and haircuts.
Mrs. Tweezers tells Owen’s parents to soak the blanket in vinegar. They soak his favorite corner of the blanket in vinegar. Owen picks a new favorite corner, buries the blanket in the sandbox, and proclaims it as good as new. Owen’s parents try to tell him no more blanket. They know he can’t carry a blanket to school. That doesn’t work either. Finally Owen’s mother has an “absolutely wonderful, positively perfect, especially terrific idea”. She snips and sews until Fuzzy becomes a large number of handkerchiefs’ that Owen can carry with him wherever he goes. The last picture shows that nosy neighbor, Mrs. Tweezers, waving a handkerchief of her own.
Henkes illustrations are wonderful. I love his pictures of the puzzled parent mice, and the joy on Owen’s face as he plays with his special blanket. He really has a gift for capturing those special moments in childhood.
Also See:
Lilly’s 3 For All – Game Review
Top Ten Picture Books for Preschoolers
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale – Mo Willems