Comments on: Extra Yarn

By: Robin Smith

Robin Smith — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 02:54:33 +0000

I don’t think so, Sam. What does you mother in law say? I grew up knitting in Europe and knit both Continental and American. (I know, so showy.) However, these are not realistic illustrations and I did not find myself jarred by them at all. I am unabashedly a fan.

By: Sam Bloom

Sam Bloom — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 01:27:02 +0000

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend the Mock Caldecott at Dayton Metro Library (facilitated by the fabulous Floyd Dickman), and we discussed the knitting conundrum. According to one of the Dayton CLs, who is a major knitter, that’s the way they hold them across the pond (or maybe she said something about them holding them that way in the old days… I don’t remember, but it definitely had something to do with the U.K.). Any thoughts on this? The story has always had a vaguely British feel to me, for some reason, so this would sort of tie in to that.

By: Megan Lambert

Megan Lambert — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:10:54 +0000

This was my Picture Book class’s Medalist in our Mock Caldecott discussion during our final class meeting. The ten graduate students also chose the following books as Honors:

And Then It’s Spring
Red Knit Cap Girl
Unspoken

I’m admittedly biased toward Extra Yarn and And Then It’s Spring since these were choices that my BGHB Committee made when we honored picture books this year, but I like the others very much and my students helped me to see things in all of the books that I hadn’t considered before. Although I didn’t vote in the class’s mock debate and tried very hard to just keep my mouth shut and let my students duke it out, it was a lovely mini-return to committee work.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 23:02:54 +0000

Extra Yarn is one of my favorites this year. Charming is exactly the right word for depiction of the characters and their town, and I am continually impressed with the style of the knitted items. Klassen manages to pack so much personality into relatively simple people and animals. The use of color as the magical yarn is introduced to their monochrome town enhances the softening of the hard edges and bolsters the accompanying coziness.

By: This Is Not My Hat — The Horn Book

This Is Not My Hat — The Horn Book — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:47:59 +0000

[...] hers and rushed to claim it when we were divvying up titles. I couldn’t let her have both Extra Yarn AND this one. As you can see, we love This Is Not My [...]

By: Susan Dailey

Susan Dailey — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:07:40 +0000

Klassen uses line/shape very well in this book. Before Annabelle starts knitting and in the spreads at the Archduke’s kingdom, he uses hard edges, which soften when the knitting starts. I find the hard edges on the pages where the box floats away to be very effective. The page turn shows a return to softer edges and shapes when the box returns to its rightful owner.

By: Anamaria

Anamaria — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:42:00 +0000

For reference, the cat on the hardcover edition of David Elliott’s Knitty Kitty (ill. Christopher Denise; Candlewick, 2008) is doing it correctly.

Now I’m wondering if the illustration of Annabelle knitting bothered me more because Extra Yarn is precisely about knitting–does Klassen not know how it works?–or if it should in fact bother me less, because as Robin pointed out, the illustrations aren’t exactly realistic. And it’s a magical box of yarn.

By: Robin Smith

Robin Smith — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:44:46 +0000

Oh, do let me go on…
If a knitter is knitting with straight needles, as our little girl in this story is, the needle tips (pointy ends) should be pointing up and the other ends (knob ends) pointing down toward the lap. For some reason, when illustrators depict this act, it is almost always wrong, causing knitters to strike out with their sharp needles at the nearest passer by. It is physically impossible to knit if one’s tips (and, therefore, thumbs) are pointing down.

By: Roger Sutton

Roger Sutton — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:50:09 +0000

In real-life knitting, are the needles below the yarn? Maybe it’s too hard to make out what’s going on?

By: Amy Broadmoore

Amy Broadmoore — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:00:23 +0000

I really like Extra Yarn. I think Jon Klassen’s illustrations — and his use of browns and greys — are a perfect match for the story. If the illustrations were too pretty, the story would be ruined. I agree with the Tony Ungerer comparison. The archduke jumps unexpectedly into this story without explanation. The sudden and absurd plot twist absolutely reminds me of Ungerer.