Anna Marie's Blanket - Hardcover

Joanne Barkan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812061241 ISBN 13: 9780812061246

Publisher: Barron's, 1990

Synopsis

A little girl's blanket resents her going off to nursery school and leaving it behind until she assigns it the job of looking after all her other toys while she's away.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 1-- Anna Marie is going to nursery school for the first Time and will be leaving her blanket behind. When it says, " 'What do you mean I'm not going with you?,' " Anna Marie explains that it can't go to nursery school with her, but that it can baby-sit for her stuffed animals. While a child's attachment to and ultimate separation from a beloved object is a common and important theme, Barkan doesn't pull off the idea of a blanket's talking and curling up in different positions to display emotions--even in the realm of fantasy. To top off the nonsense, Maze's illustrations are flat and poorly executed, showing Anna Marie crying blue tears to match her blue eyes. There is an effort to make the blanket look angry, hurt, pouty, etc., but it fails miserably. This sugary, syrupy story is easy to pass up. --Leslie Barban, Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Anna Marie is growing up: she's starting nursery school soon, and has to leave behind her beloved blanket. No ordinary bed-covering, this anthropomorphized character has been an exemplary playmate and guardian. Now the blanket is hurt and insulted at being phased out of the girl's life; with an unfortunate lack of understanding, "it folded itself into a neat square and refused to speak." Anna Marie still professes to love her blanket--though its petulance and moodiness seem to outweigh any possible appeal it might have--and presents a solution that offers it new responsibilities. Although the separation depicted is a common and potentially painful one, there must be warmer, gentler approaches than Barkan's rather pedantic narrative. Maze's pleasantly straightforward paintings possess a certain blandness that only reinforces this ultimately flat story. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Barron's
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0812061241
• ISBN 13: 9780812061246
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 30
• Illustrator: Deborah Maze