Benjy’s Blanket by Miguel Gouveia
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Illustrated by Raquel Catalina
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.
Year first published: 2021
