{"id":7079511,"date":"2026-10-07T19:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T19:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7079511"},"modified":"2026-10-07T19:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T19:22:20","slug":"picture-book-review-the-ribbon-by-tessa-blackham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7079511","title":{"rendered":"Picture Book Review: The Ribbon by Tessa Blackham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u2014Ryan\u2019s Review of the Writing\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"205\" data-end=\"509\">Anytime <span class=\"caps\">OPB<\/span> covers a wordless or nearly wordless picture book, I ask myself\u2013do I skip my part? Should the artist do the entire review? Let\u2019s\u00a0see.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"205\" data-end=\"509\">The premise is rather simple. A young dancer freezes up when it\u2019s showtime. Instead of facing the stage, she slips off and hides. It seems important to note that the girl loves dancing and has practiced, practiced, practiced. Her anxiety never comes across as stemming from being unprepared. With almost no text on the page, the storytelling has to make those feelings clear without explaining them.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"205\" data-end=\"509\">The few words that appear (\u201ctime to go\u201d and \u201ctime to hide\u201d) carry a lot of weight. I almost read them as section or chapter headings for the emotional plotline.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"205\" data-end=\"509\">The seasoned dancer who finds the girl hiding handles things so impressively. Even if this book had hundreds of words, I don\u2019t think there\u2019d be a pep talk or lecture. The red ribbon she gives the young girl works as emotional shorthand. That small gesture ends up carrying the story a lot farther than I imagined it\u00a0could.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"205\" data-end=\"509\">We watch the young dancer grow older and have a minor crisis when the ribbon is misplaced. But she steps onstage without it and performs wonderfully. This keeps the ribbon from becoming some magical talisman. And when she finds another young dancer hiding as she once did, she knows just what to\u00a0do.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"205\" data-end=\"509\">Passing on that ribbon is an act of kindness that can move from person to person. Yes, this is a story about confidence and performing, but it\u2019s also about remembering who helped you along the way and how you can\u2013and probably should\u2013help others down the road,\u00a0too.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"205\" data-end=\"509\"><em>The Ribbon<\/em> is a lovely book with a quiet-\u200bbut-\u200bvital message that rises above the expected \u201cbelieve in yourself\u201d angle.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2595\" data-end=\"2627\">4.25 out of 5 red ribbons<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u2014Austin\u2019s Review of the Illustrations\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s impossible to discuss the artwork in<em> The Ribbon<\/em> without discussing the story a bit, because author-\u200billustrator Tessa Blackham has created a truly integrated sequential narrative spare on verbiage, but full of emotional impact. So, pardon me if I intrude on Ryan\u2019s territory a little this\u00a0time.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Blackham\u2019s masterfully crafted layouts summarize better than words the work that goes into perfecting a craft, and becoming the best version of yourself you can be The time and effort and attention that goes into pursuing a dream, only to be faced with unexpected and seemingly insurmountable barriers in its pursuit<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Through point-\u200bof-\u200bview panels, we can sense the ballerina\u2019s fear, and her sense of becoming as she basks in the spotlight. Beautifully charming and exquisitely paced sequences cause the reader to become as attached to the ribbon as the dancer is.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The cartooning is direct and approachable, from gestural pencil-\u200band-\u200bwatercolor sketches to more rendered cont\u00e9 crayon and stenciled compositions full of subtext, and the same deceptively effortless movements as the dancer\u2019s. Finding a satisfying dynamic range between the pastels chosen to represent the ballerina\u2019s world is no small feat, but the scenes never feel muted or washed out. Each sumptuously textural page portrays stage light (and offstage light) as convincingly subtle and stark by turns. Just like ballet, the drawings seem to come alive and hover midair, untouched by gravity.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Through it all, the ribbon entwines a visual cue for the support of the masters and fellow artists from whom we learn and draw inspiration. Blackham\u2019s ballerina learns a powerful lesson for children and the modern world about the self-\u200bdiscovery that happens between wishing to be able to do a thing, actually learning how, and passing it\u00a0on.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">5 out of 5 cont\u00e9 crayons<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onlypicturebooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mholleramckinley2018_01-8x10-240x300.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onlypicturebooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mholleramckinley2018_01-8x10-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.onlypicturebooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mholleramckinley2018_01-8x10-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onlypicturebooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mholleramckinley2018_01-8x10-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/www.onlypicturebooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mholleramckinley2018_01-8x10-900x1125.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.onlypicturebooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mholleramckinley2018_01-8x10-1280x1600.jpg 1280w\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2014Ryan\u2019s Review of the Writing\u2014 Anytime OPB covers a wordless or nearly wordless picture book, I ask myself\u2013do I skip my part? Should the artist do the entire review? Let\u2019s\u00a0see. The premise is rather simple. A young dancer freezes up when it\u2019s showtime. Instead of facing the stage, she slips off and hides. It seems [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7079513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240252,120517,119865,240253],"tags":[240275,2268,3893,3749,8732,6538],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7079511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-austin-mckinley","category-picture-book-reviews","category-ryan-g-van-cleave","category-tessa-blackham","tag-blackham","tag-book","tag-picture","tag-review","tag-ribbon","tag-tessa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Picture Book Review: The Ribbon by Tessa Blackham - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7079511\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Picture Book Review: The Ribbon by Tessa Blackham - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2014Ryan\u2019s Review of the Writing\u2014 Anytime OPB covers a wordless or nearly wordless picture book, I ask myself\u2013do I skip my part? 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