The Twins' Blanket

Yum's (There Are No Scary Wolves) third picture book shows the author/illustrator thoroughly at home with the picture book form. The conflict between two five-year-old twins is believable ("And we've shared the same blanket ever since we were born.... But we are big girls now.... The blanket has gotten too small for both of us"), and the dialogue is persuasive ("No, I think I should have it. Because... well... I can't sleep without it, either. And you're only three minutes older than me!"). Text and art share equally in the storytelling: the solution to the blanket dispute, for example, is shown, not told (Yum draws the twins' mother cutting the old blanket in two and incorporating each half into a new blanket for each girl). It's an exquisitely designed book: lots of white space focuses attention on unexpected pleasures, like the feet of the twins as they stomp on the fabric in a wash basin. The book's inherent symmetry, with the twins mirroring each other on the left and right sides of the spreads, is a treat as well. Ages 3%E2%80%936. (Aug.)