my 5 yr old son likes to ‘read’ to his little sister and he does a very nice job of it

getting the gist of the stories without actually reciting word for word,

but there are some books that he will carry to me, crestfallen,

saying, “mama, i can’t remember what this page is about”

with tears hanging at the corners of his dear eyes

that break my heart into sad little pieces.

this never happens to him with joanna and eric johnson‘s books.

in freddie’s blanket they have once again found the perfect balance

between her sweet, memorable story lines and his richly detailed drawings.

not only do they tell a good story,

but at my house

they also plant seeds that are

the beginnings

of beautiful

family

conversations.

while reading

freddie’s blanket,

it came to light that

i swaddled them

each in blankets,

though theirs

were “not

nearly as cool”, they informed me, nor as cleverly shaped as the  ‘baby envelope’.

it also surfaced,

among other things,

that their uncle ken

was quite prone

as a young child

to sleep in odd spots,

just like freddie does

throughout the book.

as i was looking for my own copy

just this morning,

i found it in the hands

of my 4 yr old girl

as she sat quietly

‘reading’ to her baby brother.

after telling the story on page 2, she points and says,

“papa rocked me in a cradle when i was a baby like you”,

when she came to page 15,

“your hands have to be this (holding up her hand for size)

for mama to let you hold her guitar all by yourself”,

and “i think this beetle plays the trumpet just like our big sister” at page 25.

right near the very end, she leaned up close to him and said quite solemnly,

“when you are as old as me you will sleep in a big boy bed like freddie, too”.

then she ‘read’ through the patterns at the end of the book

with awe in her voice saying, “patteren.  patteren…”

as she turned each page

and i thought to myself, this is

the kind of book we need more of.

want one of your own?

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saying which of the book’s patterns

(pictured above) is your very, very favorite.

i’ll draw a name randomly on monday, the 16th.

‘morning’ taken from 5:3 in the psalms.