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Overview-
When Benjy is born, his grandfather, a tailor, gives him a beautiful handmade blanket to keep him warm in his cot. As Benjy grows, he takes his blanket with him everywhere. He loves it so much that even when it becomes ragged and stained, he will do anything to stop his mother from throwing it out.
He enlists his resourceful grandfather who cuts, measures and sews and turns the blanket into a coat. Benjy wears the coat every day, morning to night, until it grows too tight and his mother threatens again to throw it away. His grandfather turns it into a waistcoat and when that no longer fits, it becomes a handkerchief, and when the handkerchief is torn beyond repair, it is finally turned into a button. But then Joseph loses the button and his grandfather must come up with an even more imaginative solution – one that will ensure the blanket will last forever.
Based on a traditional Jewish story, this is a beautiful tale of the love between a boy and his grandfather, between a boy and his blanket, the inevitable passing of time and the glorious power of imagination.
About The Author-
REVIEWS-
"When an author and illustrator take on the challenge of reinterpreting a classic, they face an inevitable challenge. In Benjy’s Blanket, Miguel Gouveia and Raquel Catalina offer a new approach to the classic Yiddish folktale and song about a humble garment that eventually disintegrates, but survives in the form of a metaphor about the permanence of storytelling. Although readers will be reminded of both Simms Taback’s Joseph Had a Little Overcoat and My Grandfather’s Coat by Jim Aylesworth and Barbara McClintock, Benjy’s Blanket engages with the idea of transient objects and lasting language in a unique way. Where the earlier classics used rhythmic lines to involve readers, Gouveia constructs a quiet and matter-of-fact narrative of a boy and his grandfather, illustrated by Catalina’s emotionally evocative pictures. The result is an unforgettable picture book about intergenerational bonds."
"I believe this may be one of my favorite children’s books of all time. Everything about it, from the story to the artwork, is stunning. There are so few books that feature Jewish children in the US, making the diversity a much welcome aspect of the story. This would be a wonderful book for a grandparent to gift their grandchild or vice-versa. I recommend buying two and sharing it over zoom."
