Timely Restyling: Unraveled by Leanne Hatch

COLE'S BABY BLANKET HAD BEEN LOVINGLY MADE BY MAMA WHILE SHE DREAMED OF HIS ARRIVAL.

And right away Cole loves his soft knitted blankie. It snuggles him when he is a tiny newborn, and makes him giggle when his mom uses it to play peek-a-boo with him.

When he can sit up, it makes a soft play-place for him and his toys on the floor. When he is older, it is a tent for him and his cat to hide out under kitchen chairs. And when he is bigger, it make a perfect superhero cape. But then, one day... Cole notices something sad. His beloved blankie is growing smaller.

IT WAS COMING UNRAVELED.

Soon it is just a wad of snarled-up yarn.

HE TRIED TO USE IT IN ALL THE SAME WAYS.

But it is no good for keeping him warm at night or making a hide-out tent, a superhero cape, or anything. Even his cat, who might be suspected for the unraveling, seems sad. At last Cole has to admit the truth.

IT WAS TIME TO LET GO.

But Mom knows what to do with yarn, and while Cole sleeps, she starts knitting once more.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and in that spirit, Cole soon has a a handsome handknit new sweater, soft and warm, in Leanne Hatch's Unraveled (Holiday House, 2021).

Hatch's heartwarming story of loss and love and life is made even more kid-pleasing by her charming illustrations, including that big-eyed cat with the knowing expressions on his whiskered face. This first book for author-illustrator Hatch is a wise lesson on loving and letting go and making something out of nothing!