Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Extra Yarn- a book review

Quote of the Day....

               Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

                                                               ~Groucho Marx





Title: Extra Yarn
Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator: Jon Klassen

Winner of a 2013 Caldecott Honor and the 2012 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Excellence in Picture Books.


About the book:

This book is about a little girl named Annabelle who lives in a colourless, black and white world.  She stumbles upon a box of colourful yarn and that's when the story takes off.  She decides to knit herself a sweater.  The multi-colours of the yarn make her happy and add so much warmth and pizzazz to her blah world.  She discovers that the yarn has not run out so she knits on.  With the left overs she knits her dog, Mars, a sweater and guess what?  She has more yarn to play with so on she goes.  She really ramps it up and with busy, clacking needles she designs sweaters for her classmates, her teachers, then the animals around her. The yarn is like the Energizer Bunny and just keeps on going - limitless really.  Her super-creativity kicks in and she knits cozies for the houses and trees transforming her world into a pallet of multi-coloured stitches that makes everyone in the town happy.  An evil archduke gets wind of her works and travels to meet up with Annabelle and offers to buy her yarn from her.  Annabelle, the wise girl that she is, refuses, so the Archduke steals the box away from her.  When he opens the box he finds......ah ah ah....no spoiler here!

The story is really about love and the concept that if you give it away it will come back to you.  The stitches she knit with love, added colour and coziness to her corner of the world. The illustrations are so well done.  The illustrator uses ink, gouache, and digital illustrations to bring this story to life.

This charming tale will be enjoyed by children (and adults) alike.  If you are lucky enough to have a "knitter" in your family this would be the perfect gift to give to them.












About the Author:







Mac is a New York Times bestselling author of books for children, including Extra Yarn, which won a 2013 Caldecott Honor and the 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Picture Books. He also writes the Brixton Brothers series of mystery novels. He was born in 1982 to non-farmers in a California farming community. Now he lives in Berkeley.





Book Review Rating:    9  (Close to Perfection!)

Read on and read always!  

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