More than a Picture Book

The Princess's Blankets, written by Carol Ann Duffy and illustrated by Catherine Hyde, is the only book that I've ever bought simply for the pictures. There's not much more to say. The story is a throwback to classic fairy tales. Written with an almost poetic sense of rhythm, it details the life of a princess who has been cold her entire life. Try as she (and her entire kingdom) might, she cannot be warm. Then a stranger with "hard, gray eyes like polished stones" comes to the kingdom and gives the princess rather peculiar blankets in an attempt to make her warm.

While I appreciate the story and its surprising nuances, the real pleasure of this book is in the illustrations. They are simply beautiful. This is the sort of art that you want to frame and hang in your living room. It's a book very, very worth purchasing just for the sake of taking long looks at the pictures. And that isn't something I can say about many books.