Irena Kobald

This book is for primary age students. In this book about a refugee student, we have a young girl who feels out of place in her new world. Everything is unfamiliar and strange after she moved to the United States for the first time. However, after she makes a new friend at the park, she is introduced to so many beautiful new things that she adds to her blanket as a collection of her new things she was introduced to.
This book was a beautiful illustration of the struggles that a child new to an area or culture might encounter, and how isolation can turn to inclusion after meeting a new companion. This book may not have as much of a value in the classroom, but still a good read for any students that might be independently interested.… (mer)

Summary: This book is about how a woman comes from a different country and is unable to speak English. She is upset by how she is treated and wants to learn English. She soon finds herself a friend who teaches her English and can have two cultures in her blankets. One American and the other African. She makes herself the mold of two and is happy she has found herself a friend.
Reflection: I think this book speaks about two things: immigration and the white savior complex. It talks about the difficulties immigrants go through but it also speaks about how sometimes some are so taken with trying to "save" people of color. I think this book was cute at first when it was first to read but then you analyze it more and realize it might have a different connotation. I think this book would have been better if perhaps it was less about the white woman helping the woman of color but more being able to have that connection of finding her culture in America.… (mer)