Loose Threads - by Isol (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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 village lies the Other Side--a messy and wild world, filled with merry inhabitants and strange beasts. Leilah often visits just such a place in her dreams. Lila is constantly losing things, and when her mom demands an explanation, Lila decides that her lost possessions must be falling down into the Other Side. And so, she declares that all she has to do to fix things is mend the holes between her world and the Other Side. It's a genius idea--nothing will ever go missing again! But as Lila soon learns, some holes don't need sewing up, and mending can also mean a suffocating shutting out..."--

Book Synopsis

An intrepid girl discovers the value of the tangled, knotty side of life in Loose Threads, a picture book inspired by a Palestinian scarf, from Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Isol.

Translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel

Selected for the USBBY Outstanding International Book List, 2025!
A Bookstagang Best of 2024 Picture Book Selection, Future Classic!
One of Evanston Public Library's "101 Great Books for Kids List of 2024"!

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 village lies the Other Side--a messy and wild world, filled with merry inhabitants and strange beasts. Leilah often visits just such a place in her dreams.

Leilah is constantly losing things, and when her mom demands an explanation, Leilah decides that her lost possessions must be falling down into the Other Side. And so, she declares that all she has to do to fix things is mend the holes between her world and the Other Side. It's a genius idea--nothing will ever go missing again! But as Leilah soon learns, some holes don't need sewing up, and mending can also mean a suffocating shutting out...

Inspired by one of her favorite scarves, here Isol spins a tale that celebrates the different worlds that are all part of life's rich tapestry.

Review Quotes

Bookishly Delightful's Best Picture Book in Translation of 2024! "Reading this picture book feels like watching captivating, very creative performance art. The story is told ON A SCARF. And a little girl grapples with holes in her world and the frightening other side (OF THE SCARF). At the end of the book, there is a delightfully surprising, meta photo. I would love to tell you more about how cool that photo is, but I do not want to spoil the surprise. I have never seen anything else like this book. It is brilliant." --Bookishly Delightful--Bookishly Delightful

BOOKSELLER REVIEWS

"Inspired by her favorite handmade shawl featuring Palestinian embroidery, Argentinian author Isol spins a beautiful, open-hearted tale."--Bookseller Sarah C., Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park, WA)

One of Betsy Bird's Caldenotts of 2024! "A beautifully illustrated combination of needlework and hand-drawn characters. Honestly, we need a little more international flavor in our early chapter books, and this fascinating little fable fits the bill. It's probably one of the most inventive little titles you'll see this year, too. The art is this eclectic mix of embroidery and illustration, all based on a scarf Isol received from the Palestinian women she visited at the Tamer Institute in Palestine. It's also a great little tale of a girl trying to solve problems that don't need solving. Makes for a nice complement to other stories about letting a few gaps and mistakes exist in our world, and the problems of striving for perfectionism. Or maybe it's about something else entirely. I'm not sure! All I know is that I love this book."--Betsy Bird, A Fuse 8 Production (a School Library Journal blog)

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

Selected for the USBBY Outstanding International Book List, 2025
A Bookstagang Best of 2024 Picture Book Selection, Future Classic
One of Evanston Public Library's "101 Great Books for Kids List of 2024"
One of Betsy Bird's Caldenotts of 2024
Bookishly Delightful's Best Picture Book in Translation of 2024
Selected for the Children Book Council's Summer 2024 Showcase: Imagination Celebration

"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

"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)

"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

"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 Globe

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

"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

"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

"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

"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 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 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

"This book is so sweet! Leilah is curious, honest, flawed, spunky, and adventurous. Loose Threads is a simple story that can flip your perspective inside out!"--Bookseller Bailey, Third Place Books (Seattle, WA)

About the Author

Isol is an Argentinian author and illustrator of children's books. She has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, has twice been selected as a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and has won a Golden Apple at the Bratislava Biennial of Illustration. With over 20 titles published in various languages, her specialty is narration through the dialogue between image and word. Isol lives with her family in Buenos Aires.

Lawrence Schimel is a full-time author, writing in both Spanish and English, who has published over 120 books in a wide range of genres. He is also a prolific literary translator. He lives in Madrid.