Helpful Score: 1
Despite being a fan of Kevin Henkes, I could not bring myself to like this book. The idea behind the story- trying to get a young child to part with his/her blanket- is certainly one that might appeal to parents. However, I dislike the fact that the parents start trying to force their son to give up his security object simply because the neighbor who can't mind her own business peer pressures them into thinking they are being bad parents by letting him keep his "baby" object. They also make a fuss over Owen not being able to go to school with a blanket (which strikes me as odd because the preschools where I live don't seem to mind if you child brings a special object as long as they tuck it away in their cubbie). So not only do the parents attempt to force the poor kid to suddenly be okay with getting rid of his blanket, but when they realize it won't work they attempt to compromise by cutting it up into little squares and sending him to school with handkerchief-sized pieces. Suddenly Owen doesn't care that his blanket isn't fuzzy anymore and is in small squares, which I have a hard time believing wouldn't be rather heartbreaking in real life. My own son has a blanket he loves dearly but he is naturally spending less and less time with it on his own as he gets older without me having to give him lectures on how the nosy neighbor thinks he's a baby and hacking it into small pieces. I'm sorry, Kevin Henkes, but this one did not work for me as a parent. I'm not saying there shouldn't be rules about where a security object is or isn't allowed, but I disagree with the message that it's wrong to have one the minute you hit school age.
