[2] Blankets chronicles Craig's adolescence and young adulthood, his childhood relationship with his younger brother, and the conflicts he experiences regarding Christianity and his first love.

Major literary themes of the work include: first love, child and adult sexuality, spirituality, sibling relationships, and coming of age.

Craig arrives and meets Raina's family, which includes her two adopted siblings, Ben and Laura, her older biological sister Julie, and her parents, who are undergoing a divorce.

Craig comes to terms with religion and his spiritual identity while away from his family, and confides in his brother that he is no longer a Christian, but still believes in God and the teachings of Jesus.

[5] Publishers Weekly wrote that "Thompson manages to explore adolescent social yearnings, the power of young love and the complexities of sexual attraction with a rare combination of sincerity, pictorial lyricism and taste".

Pulitzer Prize-winning comic artist Art Spiegelman sent him a long letter of praise for the work,[2][7] and in mock-jealousy, Eddie Campbell expressed a temptation to break Thompson's fingers.

[8] Another Pulitzer Prize-winning comic author, Jules Feiffer, wrote that Thompson's "expert blending of words and pictures and resonant silences makes for a transcendent kind of story-telling that grabs you as you read it and stays with you after you put it down".

[9] Alan Moore praised the book in interviews as "an incredibly heartwarming human document" adding that he found it "touching and engrossing", and publicly defended it when it was attacked as pornography (see below).

"[21] Editions are available in English, French, Spanish, German, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Slovenian, Estonian, Greek, Serbian, Norwegian, Catalan and Portuguese.