Review by Booklist Review
Twin girls tell of sharing their toys, clothes, and room. Since birth, they've shared a bed and blanket, too, but now that they're five-years-olds, they're shifting to twin beds. Neither will give up their beloved striped blanket, so their mother sews half of it onto new material, one of each girl's choosing, creating a yellow blanket and a pink one. Snug in their new beds on that first night, the sisters, suddenly out of sorts, reach across to hold hands before falling asleep. Yum, herself a twin, includes realistic, lightly competitive banter in the dual narrative, with one child referring to herself as the big sister, and the other pointing out, You're only three minutes older than me! In the artwork, forms stand out clearly, and colors glow on spacious white backgrounds. Combining drawn, painted, and printed effects, the appealing illustrations, simple yet stylized, are as effective as the text. A pleasing picture book for twins, siblings, and even onlies.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Yum's (There Are No Scary Wolves) third picture book shows the author/illustrator thoroughly at home with the picture book form. The conflict between two five-year-old twins is believable ("And we've shared the same blanket ever since we were born.... But we are big girls now.... The blanket has gotten too small for both of us"), and the dialogue is persuasive ("No, I think I should have it. Because... well... I can't sleep without it, either. And you're only three minutes older than me!"). Text and art share equally in the storytelling: the solution to the blanket dispute, for example, is shown, not told (Yum draws the twins' mother cutting the old blanket in two and incorporating each half into a new blanket for each girl). It's an exquisitely designed book: lots of white space focuses attention on unexpected pleasures, like the feet of the twins as they stomp on the fabric in a wash basin. The book's inherent symmetry, with the twins mirroring each other on the left and right sides of the spreads, is a treat as well. Ages 3-6. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Accustomed to sharing everything, two "look-alike" sisters squabble over their now-too-small-for-both-of-them baby blanket, an incident that leads to new covers, separate beds, and the first steps toward independence. From quarrels to cuddles, simple text and impish artwork convey a heartwarmingly genuine sibling relationship. (Aug.) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Two young girls, identical twins, narrate this story centering on a childhood milestone. The twins have always shared everything, including a bed and a special blanket. Now that they're five, both blanket and bed are too small for them. Each will get her own twin bed, but which girl will get the beloved blanket? The answer, gratifyingly, is neither and both: Mommy makes them both new blankets, in their own decidedly favorite colors, trimmed with material from the original blanket. Yum (Last Night, rev. 1/09) plays with the picture book format in innovative ways here. She neatly differentiates the identical twins by giving each one her own side of the book: the little girl whose favorite color is yellow inhabits the left-hand pages, while the pink-loving twin stakes out the right-hand territory. Yum uses the gutter brilliantly -- the girls talk across it, quarrel across it, and finally reach out to each other across it. The text varies its direct narration effortlessly, so that in one sentence a girl will address the reader and in the next, her twin, pulling the book's audience into the drama. Saturated colors (of the blankets, especially -- see the endpapers!) draw the eye, but the star of the art is the white space, used so effectively to emphasize the moments both of trepidation and pride as these appealing twins take a big step toward growing up. martha v. parravano (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
All children have "firsts," but twins have their own special ones.Two rosy-cheeked 5-year-old "look-alike" twin sisters share everything, but their most prized possession is a bright, striped blanket that stands out from the white background and the girls' soft colors. Now that the blanket has become too small, who should keep it? On double-page spreads each girl gives her version of the dilemma. A truce is reached when their mother decides that they'll sleep in twin beds and that she'll make them each a new blanket. The sisters' individual personalities begin to shine, as does the vibrant fabric that each picks out, and fun ensues when they help their mother wash and dry the fabric in the backyard. Even with their new blanketswith trim formed from their old blanketthe girls have trouble falling asleep in separate beds until they both reach out their hands to comfort one another in the dark. From newborns sleeping in similar poses to slumbering youngsters sprawled out in opposite positions to the selection of differently colored and designed fabrics, Yum's deceptively quiet text and poignant illustrations, created from prints, colored pencil, watercolor and other media, convey the girls' growing independence. Despite this dividewhich is both physical and emotionalthe twins recognize their inseparable bond.Readers who have ever wondered what it's like to be a twin need look no further. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
