ANNIE HOOT AND THE KNITTING EXTRAVAGANZA

Annie is a “kind but scatterbrained” owl who enjoys doing new things. Knitting is her latest accomplishment, and balls and balls of bright, pastel yarn on the endpapers attest to that. Annie is skillful but, sadly, unappreciated by her parliament of fellow owls. She knits transportation—hot-air balloon, sail and parachute (actually a kind of hang glider in the illustrations)—and knits in turn for animals in the rainforest, on the African plains and in the Arctic (where, alarmingly, penguins share ice floes with polar bears and walruses). As she searches for creatures that truly need her “nifty knitwear,” she runs out of yarn and misses her fellow owls. Arriving home on her own wings, she finds the parliament bedecked in her woolens and longing to learn to knit. As they knit, she tells them tales of her travels. This might be a lead-in to art, nature and geography units, provided the presence of the penguins is corrected by a teacher. Annie’s enthusiasm is infectious, but given the story’s flaws, it merits consideration only as an additional purchase. (Picture book. 4-8)