Thinking about blankets and books

or how to be cozy on a winter day, plus a review of THE PRINCESS AND THE GRAIN OF RICE

When I was a little girl, one day my siblings and I came home from school to a surprise. Our parents had gotten each of us a down-filled comforter for our beds! Up to that point we had used plain ‘ol thermal blankets (paired with my Rainbow Brite sheets, of course), which were totally adequate. But the new comforters…to me they were the height of luxury! They were soft and fluffy, and plenty warm without being stifling. Mine was a shade of dark pink that was completely perfect. Until I got sick on it.

I’ll spare you the details, but I will tell you that I was devastated about the mess I had made of that comforter. Apparently it was not machine washable, so I thought I’d seen the last of it. What a sad day!

But my mom did an amazing thing. She took that soiled comforter, ripped open the seam on the end, and emptied all of the feathers out. Then she washed the lining, refilled it, and sewed it back up, good as new. Can you imagine my delight?

After that, Mom made each of us a cover for our comforters, using two flat sheets sewn together. Mine was a pretty floral with lots of pinks and turquoise.

I had that comforter for years and years, even after I got married. Being twin sized, it didn’t fit on my bed then, of course, so I stored it in the laundry room. It met its untimely demise at the hands—or I should say the teeth—of our dog.

Down comforters were expensive, and so for the first year or so of marriage, hubby and I made do with an assortment of blankets and a scrappy quilt that my grandmother had made us. Eventually we splurged on a matching bedding set with one of those fluffy, polyester-filled comforters. Nice enough, but not as fluffy or cozy as a down comforter, and they tend to get lumpy over the years.

So, a few years later when my mother-in-law asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told her I wanted a down comforter. And she got us one! It was glorious!

But time does what time does, and eventually that comforter was damaged beyond repair. And we didn’t replace it, instead settling for a simple, inexpensive polyester-filled comforter in GRAY (a nice neutral color, hubby said). A floral duvet cover took care of the gray, but it got lumpy with washes and the seams started popping. Worst of all…it was too hot! Even on the coldest nights I often felt stifled under that synthetic monstrosity, so I would toss it off and use a cotton thermal blanket instead. So this year, as sort of a Christmas present to myself, I bought another down comforter. So cozy. Why had I let myself suffer for so long?

That comforter is the most comforting, cozy thing I own, but there are blankets all over my house—draped over furniture, filling a blanket basket, hanging on a quilt rack—and there is something cozy and comforting about each of them. Few things can compete with the coziness of a good blanket. Books come close, but they don’t help keep your toes toasty. Hot tea is good too, but it cools off too quickly. But to curl up with a blanket, a cup of tea, and a good book? There truly is nothing cozier than that! Unless you add a grandchild, I guess.

---

A poem for you

This poem is an excerpt from my recently completed manuscript, a middle grade historical novel in verse that takes place during a blizzard. With all this talk about blankets, I thought it was appropriate.

I try not to hear
the wind
raging
or the house
groaning
or the soft voices
speaking muffled worries

I try not to think
my own worried thoughts,
the what ifs

or the hopes

instead I focus on the fire
and the blanket
and the warm cup of tea
quickly cooling
in my hands.

---

A new picture book review

Speaking of blankets…

My friend Tina Cho released a new picture book last week titled The Princess and the Grain of Rice, illustrated by Honee Jang.

In The Princess and the Grain of Rice, Jeongsoon, a girl with a heart as gentle as jade, dreams of being a princess so she can do more to help the poor. So when the queen announces a “princess challenge” in the hopes of finding a bride who is “fit to be a princess” for her son, Jeongsoon is excited for the opportunity!

The story is a Korean retelling of the classic fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. In the story, all of the girls hoping to be chosen as princess must go through a series of challenges. At first Jeongsoon feels a little bit out of place, but she makes it through to the last challenge, when she is told to sleep on a tower of 100 blankets! At the bottom of this tower of blankets is a single grain of rice. If you are familiar with the story of The Princess and the Pea, then you can guess how this turns out. Jeongsoon does indeed feel the grain of rice under all of those blankets! But there is another element in this Korean version of the story—one that reveals the true character of Jeongsoon’s heart and proves her to be fit to be a princess.

I always enjoy seeing retellings of classic tales, and this one is a new favorite. The book has the feel of a classic fairy tale, and like classic fairy tales it stars a princess whose heart is noble and kind! I also love the Korean setting. I enjoyed immersing myself in a world that is new and unfamiliar, not because of the fantastical, but because of the cultural. There is an author’s note at the end of the book in which Tina talks about the lack of stories with Korean princesses, and how asian girls deserve to see themselves in these stories. And that is so true! But this book also really appealed to my younger self, who always longed to see stories about princesses from various parts of the world. She would have been delighted to discover this gem of a book!

---