Loose Threads

Selected for the Children Book Council’s Summer 2024 Showcase: Imagination Celebration

Selected for the Evanston Public Library’s “101 Great Books for Kids List of 2024”

“Existing alongside Leilah’s beautiful, orderly village is another, chaotic world called the Other Side... Inspired by a traditional hand-embroidered shawl that she received on a visit to Palestine, Isol’s eye-catching, unique illustrations feature photographs of its patterns; the outward-facing side is the backdrop to Leilah’s village, while the reverse sets the scene for the Other Side... [A] clever, playful tale... Whimsical and imaginative.” * Kirkus Reviews *

“Brilliantly realized, this is a charming, unusual fable of two worlds, each the reverse of the other but ever in balance.”

* Booklist *
"An embroidered shawl’s underside represents an alternate realm in this inventive picture book... Celebrates the fascinating reverse side of intricate stitching patterns." * Publishers Weekly *

“The celebrated Argentine picture-book creator Isol presents 7- to 9-year-olds with parallel realms in Loose Threads, an illustrated story that plays out on either side of an embroidered cloth. On one side houses and flowers appear in neat stitching, while the obverse shows a mess of knots and dangling threads. On the tidy side lives a little girl named Leilah who’s forever losing things—keys, gloves, colored pencils… An affectionate coda, meanwhile, reveals that the dwellers on the fabric’s untidy side are indeed as fantastical as Leilah could hope and that they enjoy putting her ‘gifts’ to stylish use.”

* Wall Street Journal *

“Inspired by the traditional embroidery of Palestinian culture, this ­Argentinian import honors unseen worlds. The mixed-media art relies primarily on highly textured and detailed embroidery to tell the tale… Isol depicts a world embroidered in red thread… Delightfully, she also depicts the back sides of these embroidered cloths to emphasize the ‘much stranger’ other world ‘just behind ours.’ She renders the startling, eye-catching forest with black threads, for example… A richly imagined tale told with loving care.”

-- Julie Danielson * The Horn Book *

"The master is back with something wonderfully inventive up her sleeve. Combining drawing with textiles and embroidery, Isol makes a book that is stunning in both story and art."

-- Travis Jonker * 100 Scope Notes (a School Library Journal blog) *

“The images created through the wear and tear of this scarf are the perfect landscape for creativity and imagination in this sweet story that sparks curiosity. This book is beautifully illustrated and relatable for young children with a strong sense of wonder! Recommended for those who like inventive, unique books.”

-- Marí Valiente, The Park School Library (Brookline, MA) * Youth Services Book Review *
“The Argentine picture book author-illustrator Isol takes the reader on a voyage through the two sides of a hand-embroidered Palestinian shawl. The unique and colorful illustrations are sure to capture the young reader’s attention, inviting them to accompany Leilah from one world to another.” -- Zoraida Rivera Morales * Words Without Borders *
"Loose Threads, by Isol and CLiPPA-nominated translator Lawrence Schimel, is an incredibly inventive graphic novel in which the medium contributes to the storytelling in more ways than one. Isol’s artwork blends drawing, collage and photography, the backgrounds formed from photographs of a hand-embroidered shawl gifted to the author during a visit to a community centre in Palestine. When our protagonist Leilah keeps losing things, she becomes convinced that they are disappearing to the Other Side – that is, the reverse of the embroidery. A clever concept, beautifully realised." -- Librarian Phoebe Demeger * Center for Literacy in Primary Education (UK) *
One of Evanston Public Library's 101 Great Books for Kids of 2024! "When Leilah decides to sew up the holes in her world single-handedly, she has no idea of the consequences of her actions. A beautifully illustrated combination of needlework and hand-drawn characters." * Evanston Public Library Great Books for Kids List Committee *

“Isol is a great Argentinian illustrator, a very well-known and beloved artist who is constantly challenging herself and her readers… A wondrous invitation to think about life’s different sides.”

-- Mariana Ruiz * World Kid Lit *
“An imaginative and creative picture book… A book unlike any other that I have read… The story itself is fun, but the illustration style is where Loose Threads really shines… This story reads like a fable, both in its creative explanation of an everyday phenomenon and its plucky, curious young hero. Loose Threads can be found in the fairy tale and fable section of the children’s department and will find its most captive audience in elementary-aged readers and their families. Isol’s multimedia illustrations will likely encourage other similar art projects with the reader’s own beloved objects.” -- Christina Matekel-Gibson, children’s librarian at Joplin Public Library * The Joplin Glo