By Aditi Anand
Published by Candlewick Press
Mom's Review
Anand's art is absolutely beautiful. I love the collage technique incorporating swatches of text into the image, calling to mind swatches of fabric like Papa must use as a tailor. The muted tones of the illustrations also complement the tone of the story about a girl and her father dealing with the loss (or absence) of her other father. It is never explicitly stated that Papa has died, and I appreciate that children are left with the ambiguity so that they can confront the problem as they are emotionally able. Details like the stubble on Dad's previously clean-shaven face point to grieving the loss of his husband, but the girl and her Dad make a blanket for (or honoring) Papa at the end.
Books handling grief - good books that is - are a bit hard for me to properly describe. There is something that I can't quite identify that just feels right and honest in the way that the characters are shown to confront their grief. The Fabric of Us has it. I know I already called the illustrations beautiful, but I would like to emphasize that the entire entity is a beautiful piece of literature and art that should be enjoyed by all young readers.
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