Review by Booklist Review
In this charming pastoral, Nari, a girl with a shaggy black bob and ready smile, lives on a small farm with her parents, her little sister, and plenty of animals. One spring, Nari is given a lamb. She cares for the animal as the seasons pass, and it soon grows into an adult with nice, thick fleece. Time for shearing! Readers are taken through the wool cycle, from its removal from the sheep to its eventual transformation into a scarf for Nari. Soft but vibrant illustrations, created with watercolor and colored pencils, show Nari helping her parents prepare the wool to be spun into yarn, dyed yellow, and knitted into a warm scarf that, eventually, will be composted into soil for the sheep's pasture. The main text emphasizes action or sound words on every page ("snip-snip," "drop-spin"), which will delight the youngest listeners, while slightly older children will appreciate satisfaction that can come from making something oneself. A visual review of the wool cycle concludes this subtle nod to sustainability.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A family embraces the Earth and its resources in this Scottish import. In an appealing bucolic setting, a young girl named Nari feeds her lamb as they are surrounded by chicks, hens, and flowers. Her parents, mother holding a baby, are close by. As the year goes on, the lamb grows bigger, and the affection between girl and animal continues. When spring comes, Nari's father shears the sheep, and the process of making wool begins. Step by step, Nari and her mother wash the wool, card it, spin it, dye it "yellow as summer sunshine," and begin knitting. It's not an easy task for the girl. A big hole appears in her work, but the scarf is completed in time for winter frolics in the snow. Time passes. Nari and her baby sibling have grown; the scarf goes into the compost, which goes into the soil, which enriches the grass, which feeds a lamb. Nari now knits a scarf with her little sister watching attentively under the spreading leaves of a big tree. A penultimate double-page spread details the steps involved in making wool, with helpful numbering and arrows. The text is straightforward, with occasional lyrical repetition. Display text highlights actions and/or onomatopoeia; when Nari digs the compost into the earth, for instance, large italicized letters emphasize the action: "Dig--dig." Delicate, colorful illustrations fill each page with pretty people, cute animals, and idyllic scenes. Nari and her sister are biracial, with an East Asian mom and White dad. An informative, easy-to-follow, pleasing lesson in readying wool for knitting. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
