Loose Threads

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

A New York Public Library Summer 2025 Pick for Kids!
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.