The Blizzard's Robe

by Robert Sabuda

Far to the north by the great Arctic Sea, where the winter sun barely rises above the horizon, live the People Who Fear the Winter Night. On the long winter nights the People huddle around their hearths, fearing visits from terrible Blizzard, who can destroy anything with its icy winds and snow.

Among the People lives a young girl named Teune -- the finest robemaker they have ever known. One night while Blizzard rages outside, the sparks from Teune's fire accidentally set fire to Blizzard's magnificent robe and consume it. But while the People Who Fear the Winter Night rejoice that Blizzard is no longer a threat, Teune sorrows to we Blizzard's mighty robe destroyed and sets out to make amends.

Robert Sabuda once again demonstrates his extraordinary artistic versatility in these magnificent batik illustrations, with details drawn from authentic folk motifs.

Genres: Picture Books, Cultural, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Robert Sabuda is internationally acclaimed for his stunning pop-up books, including America the Beautiful and The 12 Days of Christmas. He is also the illustrator of Chanukah Lights by Michael J. Rosen. Robert Sabuda lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

An artic tale about a young girl who sews coats and robes. Living in yurt like abodes this community fears the blizzards that bring danger to the villagers.

The illustrations are wonderful, the wax batik worked so well for this story. The way everything was outlined in black made these scenes in the dark really luminous.

This would make a lovely story for children who like folk tales and have a longer attention span for plenty of text but still enjoy seeing some illustrations.

Read on open library

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific Northern lights (aurora Borealis) folk tale style story. I warmed to the young girl and the robes in this story.

But it’s the batik illustrations that make this book unique and awe inspiring. As I turned the pages, I just couldn’t believe how they were made and how beautiful I found most of them.

I am grateful to one of my young friends, with no family members who are Goodreads members, in spite of my incessant begging, for introducing me to this book, and I’m sad to see how infrequently it’s been reviewed/rated here at Goodreads.

4-1/2 stars

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful story, in the folktale tradition, of a young girl and her experience with Blizzard, who frightens her people in their long, dark winter nights when the sun barely ever touches the horizon. A beautifully illustrated (batik-style) story illustrating the virtues of kindness and of understanding the true nature of something rather than hastily fearing it. Great story for those interested in books about the Northern Lights. I wish there had been more of an author's note because I'm curious if he based this story on any traditional tellings or if it's his own creation.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acclaimed pop-up artist Robert Sabuda, creator of such titles as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-Up Adaptation , and (with Matthew Reinhart) the Encyclopedia Prehistorica series, presents an original story about how the Northern Lights came to be in this lovely picture-book. The People Who Fear the Winter Night live "far to the north by the great Arctic Sea," and tremble, during the long winter months, at the coming of Blizzard, with his icy gusts and bitter cold. When Teune, the best robe-maker in the tribe, accidentally destroys Blizzard's icy raiment, her people are delighted, but she herself is dismayed. Determined to make amends, she creates a new robe, despite the protests of the village leader - a generous action that is rewarded, when Blizzard gives the people a gift that will lighten the darkness of the long nights...

Like the friend who recommended this one to me (thanks, Lisa!), I really loved the artwork here, created using a batik medium. Both color and composition are gorgeous, making The Blizzard's Robe a solid four-star title, from a visual perspective. Sadly, I was a little less enamored with the story, which seemed to be modeled on some kind of (unspecified) folklore. I suspect that Sabuda's inspiration was Siberian, since he calls the dwellings of the people here "yarangas" (a yurt-like structure used by the Chukchi people), and because his heroine is named "Teune." I see that there is an Nenets folktale, published during the Soviet era, entitled The Tale of Brave Yatto and His Sister Teune, which James Riordan's collection, The Sun Maiden and the Crescent Moon: Siberian Folk Tales , also includes, under the name Bold Yatto and his Sister Tayune.

If there was a Siberian influence on this story, I would have preferred Sabuda to have mentioned that, even if his story was entirely original. It doesn't bother me, as it does Beverly Slapin, in A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children - she calls this "a crass ripoff of the Arctic peoples" - that Sabuda did create an original tale with Arctic overtones, but I think a tip of the hat, to his source material (if he had any), would have been in order, and made the reading experience that much richer. Either that, or a retelling of an actual folktale with this theme, given the paucity of native Siberian material available, in English.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated book. This book is an origin myth about a young girl named Teune and her tribe, the People who fear Winter Night. Teune is the best robe maker in the tribe,and takes on the task of making a robe for the ultimate enemy of her people Blizzard. Simply wonderful. I enjoyed this tale immensely.

[Felicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely gorgeous. The story is one of fear, destruction, acceptance and forgiveness.

My 2nd grade listeners thoroughly enjoyed the story, and a few of the illustrations were greeted with audible gasps and "wow"s. When I finished I was even asked if I could just bring this one back for the following week.

The Blizzard's Robe is nicely topical for a winter story without any of the usual trappings. No snowmen, no sled riding, no snowball fights. Just a beautiful story from a remote land that lives in winter for most of the year.

[SaraKat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely fable about how the northern lights came to be. The pictures are a bit like stained glass and have a blurry, dreamy quality. They are also very colorful and beautiful.

I loved this line about how the sun in the far north never rises in the winter. This definitely puts an image in my head!

If the sun did rise above the horizon, it was for only a brief time like a great whale rising to the surface of the sea for a quick breath.

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a thought-provoking fable that helps the reader to feel empathy and concern for someone considered to be bad. The whole village is afraid of Blizzard, but not the robe maker, she knows just how to help the fallen Blizzard.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely batik-style illustrations.

A name origination story from people who live in the far north.

The main character is a girl who makes robes for all the people in her tribe. When the Blizzard's robe is damaged, she makes him a new one out of special icy cloth.

[Two BookWorms Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many people, when I first think of the colors of winter, cool blues and grays come to mind. Sabuda’s book is filled with jubilant color!

For the full review: https://twobookwormsblog.wordpress.co...

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about the origin of the Northern Lights, attributed to an Arctic tribe, but nothing I could find supports that this is an actual tale passed down by any tribe. So, on its own, as a myth, the story is interesting, but the star here is the art. It truly is unique and spectacular. The colors are vibrant and capture movement and emotion.

[Dominick Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the art of this book. It just felt surreal the whole time as I read with these pictures that were just beautiful and all full bleeds

[Kati · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely origin story for the Northern Lights! The pictures were stunning.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture book retelling of the Inuit origin story for the northern lights.

The illustrations were done using batik technique.

[Sarah Limb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this story! I thought the illustrations were stunning and the story heart warming. ❤️

[Bethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Folk tale feel and lovely batik illustrations for this origin story of the northern lights.

[Linda Lipko · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the bitter cold Artic, the people live in darkness. Fearing the harsh winter, the tribes people create a monster like creature called the blizzard. He is high, fierce and unrelenting. A young girl named Teune is masterful in creating lovely, creative robes to warm her people against the blizzard's harshness.

During one particularly harsh blizzard, when the wilds are howling and the cold outside the tents arrives inside to dampen the fires, rending all bleak, frozen and dark, Teune throws her sewing materials on what is left of her fire. Creating a large fire which soars through the hole in the tent and harms the blizzard, while others celebrate the near death of the Blizzard, Teune feels sad.

Making a large, stunning robe for the blizzard, enrages the townspeople who are glad that the blizzard is gone. When the blizzard is covered in the robe, he shows his appreciation by creating the colorful northern lights to shine brightly in the sky and provide warmth to all.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazingly colorful and expressive book, about a young girl who makes robes and how one Winter she makes a robe for the Blizzard. It appears to be about indigenous people of the North Arctic, but there is no explanation given on the book leaf, and in the story they are just called People Who Fear the Winter Night, and later People of the Northern Lights. I liked the story because it was very dramatic, and also because it showed the complex feelings the girl had: fear of the blizzard, but also compassion that it should need a robe. It ends up being an interesting mythology about the source of the Northern Lights, and my daughter was interested to know that the Northern Lights are a real phenomenon so it is an educational opportunity as well.

[Shannon K]

The illustrations are rendered in batik, which is a centuries-old technique that is created by wax being applied to paper or silk and acts as a resist preventing colored dye from penetrating the fiber. Layers of wax and dye are repeatedly applied to create a multicolored picture. The images in this book are so intricate, colorful, and perfect that it is hard to believe that they are made from wax and dye. The colors in the imagines are mostly dark values; this is because the story is set in the Arctic North during the winter when it stays dark all day, so the colors of the images help to portray that.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this beautiful book with no expectation that my first-grader would let us read it together. But read it we did. I would put it in his "liked it" pile; I think it's stunning. I'm not sure if this is a genuine folktale (what group would The People Who Fear the Winter Wind) or a constructed one, but we enjoyed this story of a talented robemaker whose fire burns the robe of, and incapacitates, the Blizzard spirit, but who is moved to make Blizzard a wonderful replacement robe-- and whose people receive a beautiful gift in return. The batik illustrations are gorgeous, the text flows smoothly, and there is neither too much nor too little detail. A great winter folktale.

[Sandra Stiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures. A story of how the great northern lights were created when a robemaker makes a robe for Blizzard.

[Saskia Marijke Niehorster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming book told both with words and with rich, luscious and lovely Batik paintings. Made me feel like I also wanted to huddle under a warm blanket! (31 pgs)

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really cool book. The folklore aspect of it is fabulous and the illustrations are incredible. I don't know the first thing about the style he used, but I liked it.

[Barb Moore]

batik

[Miri Gifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, amazing artwork! It's called batik, a wax-resist dyeing technique. I only wished the pages were even bigger, so I could appreciate them more.

[Jeani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Origin story for the Northern Lights. Just beautiful! Beautifully told and lovely illustrations. Such a treat.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun story about the origins of the Northern Lights with beautiful illustrations.