  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 01/01/2015 PreS-K—A little girl loves drawing and her mom. Her mom loves knitting and her daughter. When learning to knit proves too difficult for the child, the two discover a way to spend time together doing what they enjoy. In the end, they work collaboratively to create a knitted blanket based on the little girl's design. Detailed, colorful illustrations carry the simple one-to-three sentences on each page. This picture book makes a welcome addition to any collection and will find a special niche among knitting mothers.—Betsy Davison, Cortland Free Library, NY - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Bulletin for the Center... - 06/01/2015 A young girl likes to draw, while her mother prefers to knit. The girl thinks knitting trumps drawing “because you can wear it,” so her mother tries to teach her how to knit. Her early efforts aren’t covered in glory, though, so the girl goes back to drawing until she and her mom come up with a new idea: “A collaboration! We’ll make something together.” First, the girl spends time thinking and trying out ideas on paper. Once she has her design (a sailboat against a blue and turquoise background), she and her mom gather supplies and the mom knits a blanket featuring the sailboat design, with input from her daughter. “It’s a drawing we can wear. Together,” the girl proclaims, while the last illustration shows her and her mom at the beach, wrapped in the new blanket. The clear trajectory of the storyline is satisfying and easy to follow; it’s also resonant with meaning for kids (and adults) who have tried, and sometimes failed, at creative pursuits. The girl’s misery at her knitting failure is amusingly palpable in one illustration, as she lies prostrate on the floor with the yarn and needles flung down beside her and her sympathetic dog looking on in concern. The art, done in gouache, tissue paper, ink, colored pencil, “and a dab of digital,” is as clean and crisp as the text, with the brunette girl and mother (wearing oversized round glasses) dynamically posed against backdrops featuring plenty of white space. Add this to the lineup for knitting- or art-themed storytimes, or use it as a springboard to a class or family collaborative project. JH - Copyright 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Loading...
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