Blankets of Blossoms Before Breakfast

even without talking.”
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Want to read about a picture book import this morning? Cherry Blossom and Paper Planes (Floris) is from Belgian author Jef Aerts and is illustrated by Dutch artist Sanne te Loo. Originally published in Dutch in 2017, it’s on shelves here in the U.S. this month.
Adin and Dina, best friends with names that are anagrams of one another, are so closed that (as you can read above) they “knew what the other one was thinking, even without talking.” They live on the same farm — Dina, at the top of the hill, and Adin, at the bottom. They help on the farm and love to plant cherry pits all throughout the nearby village.
One day, Adin tells Dina that he and his mother will be moving — next week, no less. After their departure, Dina has a long, hard summer without him — even though she has Corey, Adin’s crow he leaves behind for her, by her side. Adin is lonely too and throws cherry pits form the balcony of his new apartment home; he is high up on the tenth floor. When Dina visits one day, things are awkward at first. But soon, Adin is showing her how he places cherry pits between the wings of paper airplanes and throws them high into the air above the city. “The pits fell like autumn leaves around the city.” As a result, the two friends witness a happy surprise, come spring.
This lyrical, sensitive tale of two friends surviving a test to their friendship is framed by Aerts’s overriding metaphor — that these friends are “like twin cherries from the same stem.” Sanne te Loo’s gouache and pen art is lush (particularly, the cherry tree spreads) and softly colored — but with beautiful pops of rich pinks and blues. Here are some illustrations so that the art can do the talking . ….
And when Dina smiled, Adin’s eyes smiled with her.”
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the pits drilled little holes in the snow, like tiny footprints.”
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right up to the doorstep of Adin’s building.”
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here to …’ But Adin’s mother knew exactly where it led. She picked up the keys to their new car, and said, ‘A trail is meant to be followed … don’t you think?'”
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CHERRY BLOSSOM AND PAPER PLANES. Text © 2017 Jef Aerts. Illustrations © 2017 Sanne te Loo. First published in Dutch as Kersenhemel by Em Querido’s Uitgeverij in 2017. English version © 2019 Floris Books. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher.