{"id":16092,"date":"2012-02-29T09:51:30","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T14:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=16092"},"modified":"2014-05-16T14:44:58","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T18:44:58","slug":"blankets-by-craig-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/blankets-by-craig-thompson\/","title":{"rendered":"Blankets by Craig Thompson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blankets\"<\/a>If you missed last year’s Habibi<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by Craig Thompson<\/a>, stop everything right this second and go order it immediately. I’ll wait …\u00a0I promise, you’re going to thank me for that authoritative literary advice.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0Habibi<\/em> is Thompson’s multi-culti masterpiece, then\u00a0Blankets<\/em> must be his Midwest magnum opus. That the book’s back cover touts\u00a0three 2004 Harvey Awards<\/a> (Best Artist, Best Graphic Album of Original Work, and Best Cartoonist<\/a>) and two 2004 Eisner Awards<\/a> (Best Graphic Album\u2013New and Best Writer\/Artist<\/a>) shows I’m not far off …<\/p>\n

To call Blankets<\/em>\u00a0a personal story is such understatement as to be unjust: the power of its raw honesty is of the wrenching, hurts-so-good variety. As young boys, Thompson shared a bed with his little brother Phil. “‘SHARED’ is the sugar-coated way of saying we were TRAPPED in the same bed, as we were children and had no say in the matter.” Phil’s a tough bedmate with his overactive imagination and his uncontrollable bladder. In spite of the expected sibling friction, Thompson confesses that he “was a pathetic older brother [who] neglected [his] protective role in dangerous situations.”<\/p>\n

But then young Thompson’s\u00a0got weighty problems of his own, especially at school where he’s constantly bullied by students and teachers alike. At home, the oversized babysitter is an abusive monster in too-tight jeans. Thompson’s\u00a0only solace is in drawing, “where my brother accompanied behind the wheel … when we drew together, often collaborating on the same page, I felt connected to Phil.”<\/p>\n

Thompson manages to survive adolescence, trying to negotiate his demanding fundamentalist Christian upbringing with his burgeoning maturity. One high school winter during a church camp ski trip, Thompson meets Raina, another searching soul, and they continue their hesitant acquaintance by mail: “her letter renewed my faith in the notion of making marks on paper.” He is enthralled: “Thus, I found my muse.” And so their mutual attachment grows and intensifies … literally taking on epic proportions. Young first love can’t be anything but, right? Thompson and Raina share one heck of an affair to remember …<\/p>\n

The adult Thompson moves with both heartfelt wonder and overwhelming\u00a0angst through long-ago memories. His swirling, ever-in-motion, instantly recognizable transporting style is an extraordinary visual experience\u00a0\u2013 from looming fear to utter joy to resigned doubt to absolute peace, and so much more. Read and you shall believe …<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Young Adult, Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2003, 2011 (new edition)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you missed last year’s Habibi\u00a0by Craig Thompson, stop everything right this second and go order it immediately. I’ll wait …\u00a0I promise, you’re going to thank me for that authoritative literary advice. If\u00a0Habibi is Thompson’s multi-culti masterpiece, then\u00a0Blankets must be his Midwest magnum opus. That…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,73,107,60,20,31],"tags":[1227,6608,74,58,1228,10,13,55,79,170,44],"class_list":["post-16092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-graphic-novel-manga-manwha","category-memoir","category-nonethnic-specific","category-nonfiction","category-young-adult-readers","tag-blankets","tag-bookdragon","tag-bullying","tag-coming-of-age","tag-craig-thompson","tag-family","tag-love","tag-religious-differences","tag-school-challenges","tag-sibling-rivalry","tag-siblings"],"yoast_head":"\nBlankets by Craig Thompson - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/blankets-by-craig-thompson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blankets by Craig Thompson - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you missed last year’s Habibi\u00a0by Craig Thompson, stop everything right this second and go order it immediately. I’ll wait …\u00a0I promise, you’re going to thank me for that authoritative literary advice. If\u00a0Habibi is Thompson’s multi-culti masterpiece, then\u00a0Blankets must be his Midwest magnum opus. 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