More Books for Our Wool, Knitting and Spinning Unit

Here are the books we read on Thursday -- all about wool, sheep and all things knitterly:

Eversole, Robyn – Red Berry Wool
This is a story about the four basic steps of how wool from a sheep becomes a knitted sweater. What makes this story unique (other than the gorgeous illustrations by Tim Coffey) is that the story is told from a lamb’s point of view – he wants a red-berry sweater just like Boy’s! What a great story!

Appleton-Smith, Laura – Shep the Sheep of Caladeen
A royal sheep learns that he is just as special as all the other royal sheep kept by the King and Queen of Caladeen. This is a beautifully illustrated (by Carol Vredenburgh) beginning chapter book that is reminiscent of the parable of the good shepherd who searches for his 100th sheep while leaving his 99 behind. Gorgeous prose and illustrations abound in this one.

Nelson, Robin – From Sheep to Sweater
With photographs to illustrate the text, this book walks the reader through how a sweater is made –raising the sheep, shearing, sorting, washing and drying, combing, spinning, dying, buying, knitting and finally, wearing the sweater. A great, easy book about the entire process.

Lecher, Doris – Angelita’s Magic Yarn
Using a fable from the Andes, Lecher tells a beautiful tale of the knitters of mythical Oru where everyone knits, but Angelita is the best. Bad luck falls on Angelita, but her spirit continues “up beat” as she tries to remedy the situation. Finally, she is given the “gift” of knitting the sun’s rays – and after she gets what she needs, she tries to make the lives of the other villagers better. This is a wonderful story of forgiveness and charitable love.

Rylant, Cynthia – Mr. Putter and Tabby Spin the Yarn
One of the many volumes in the “Mr. Putter & Tabby” series, Rylant here takes on the telling of how Mr. Putter tries to be a good neighbor when Mrs. Teaberry begins a knitting club. The story is cute and humorous (unless, like Mrs. Fitzwater, you’ve ever had a sweater unraveled by a cat!)

Margaret Wild – Mr. Nick’s Knitting
This one had me almost in tears! Mr. Nick and Mrs. Jolley knit every morning on the 45-minute train ride into town. When Mrs. Jolley has to stay in a small, white bed in a small, white hospital room for a long, long time, Mr. Nick has to figure out a way to brighten her world and show how much he misses knitting with her. What a great example of charity knitting!

Sloat, Teri – Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep: A Yarn About Wool
With a bit of rhyme thrown in, this story is a delightfully upbeat tale of freshly shorn sheep shiveringly following Farmer Brown through the processing of their fleeces. A great story that ends happily for all – especially the sheep who want their fleeces back! This is a great read-aloud – especially if you try to sound like a sheep during the repeated: “BAAAA!, they cried. “We want it baaaaack!”

Millionaire, Tony – That Darn Yarn
This is a book with two stories being told simultaneously – a girl decides to knit a present for David while at the same time David’s sock monkey is unraveling. This is a very visual book – so let the kids really look at each picture as you read them this one.

Roth, Julie Jersild – Knitting Nell
Nell knit EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME (and that’s a problem, how?) but it takes the County Fair before her friends find out that Nell rarely knits for herself but mostly for others – including things for the town’s orphans and items for people in war-torn countries. By the end of the book, she’s teaching her friends how to knit for others. This is a great lead-in to charity knitting projects such as the Dulaan Project or other similar projects. This newly released picture book has gorgeously colored illustrations (done by the author). Destined to be a classic!

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Next week, we'll start making our own needles and they'll start to learn to knit! This is going to be SO MUCH FUN!