João by a Thread

July 25, 2022
“How big is the blanket that’s covering João?/ As big as the bed?/ Or as big as the nighttime?” Taking a patterned blanket as focal point, Mello narrates a child’s nighttime experience in this entrancing, question-filled book, which gestures toward the way connection (to family, to nature) can be felt, even when one is “alone with myself.” Natural imagery—wind, mountains, rivers—describe João’s restless moments beneath the blanket, the fear that engulfs him and unravels the textile, and the lullaby (a “word-blanket” he sews) with which he soothes himself. Philosophical text unfolds against cherry-red pages starkly accented with black and white, while the coverlet’s spidery weave fills almost every spread, its design shifting as João—presented as a long-limbed featureless form—ventures through the night until resting beneath a blanket of his own redesign in this dreamlike volume. Ages 5–8.

Starred review from October 1, 2022
Nighttime imaginings and musings unspool at the precipice of sleep. In bed, Jo�o, an abstract figure who appears entirely black or white on various pages, tugs at his homemade blanket, submerged in his thoughts. " 'So it's just me now, ' he thinks, 'alone with myself?' " Before long, his imagination wanders as he slips into sleep. The ever changing blanket, it seems, becomes the canvas for his unnamed doubts and uncertainties, his unchecked fantasies and figments. Set against lakes of striking deep red and black, the threads of the blanket weave and stretch into different shapes and symbols, echoing Mello's whimsical text (translated from Portuguese by Hahn) in all its compelling allure. At the book's core, Jo�o's bedtime reveries wed a simple premise with magnificent possibilities. Over several pages, readers consider Jo�o's blanket as it flutters as if in the wind, trembles under the fidgety feet of its drowsy owner, and strains against "a fish that's bigger than us." A passing reference to a father who "goes out fishing" hints at a source of Jo�o's ruminations. Soon, Jo�o wakes with a question: "Who unraveled my blanket?" To return to his dreams, Jo�o threads together words strewn across the floor into a "word-blanket" more fanciful than ever. Evocative in its execution, this Brazilian import invites readers to ponder the scenarios it casts (and those it doesn't). (This book was reviewed digitally.) A moody, ingenious masterstroke. (Picture book. 5-10)

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