Loose Threads
Written and illustrated by Isol, Translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel
Young Leilah lives in an idyllic village, where everything has its place. It's as beautiful and perfect as the scenes in her grandmother's embroidery. But some believe that just on the flipside of this orderly town lies the Other Side—a messy and wild world, filled with merry inhabitants and strange beasts, a peculiar world that Leilah often visits in her dreams.
So when Leilah's mom has had enough of her daughter constantly losing her things, Leilah comes up with a plan: her lost possessions must be falling down into the Other Side, and so all she has to do to fix things is mend the holes appearing in her world. It's a genius idea, and nothing will ever go missing again! But Leilah will soon learn that some loose threads don't need to be sewn up, and that keeping things in can also mean shutting things out.
Inspired by Palestinian embroidery and one of her favorite shawls, Isol spins a tale that celebrates the different sides that are all part of life's rich tapestry.
Isol is an illustrator, cartoonist, graphic artist, writer, singer and composer. She lives and works in Argentina. For her contributions to children's and young adult literature, she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2013. In her acceptance speech, Isol said many wonderful things. Here is one: "What reader could be more demanding than a child? Children have a lot of things to discover and I'd better be on their high level in order to satisfy their huge capacity for curiosity. I get my inspiration from what's wild, from what's ridiculous, from that independence of culture that children enjoy."
Lawrence Schimel is a bilingual (Spanish/English) American writer, translator, and anthologist. His work, which frequently deals with gay and lesbian themes as well as matters of Jewish identity, often falls into the genres of science fiction and fantasy and takes the form of both poetry and prose for adults and for children.
Enchanted Lion Books, 2024, hardcover, 7.5 x 9.75 inches, 76 pages.