Set in a cold town on a cold afternoon all of the illustrations are fittingly void of all color, capturing only "the white of snow and the black of soot." Annabelle finds a box of colorful yarn, and decides to knit herself a sweater. There is extra yarn so she knits a sweater for her dog, Mars. She continues using the extra yarn to knit sweaters for everyone: First, a boy named Nate and his dog, followed by all of her classmates, and pretty soon she has knit sweaters for all of the dogs, cats, and other animals. She even made sweaters for things that don't wear sweaters. The illustrations in the book become colorful, with all of townspeople, houses, animals, and cars wearing Annabelle's sweaters knitted from yarn of every color. News began to spread about the girl who never runs out of yarn, and people come from far and wide to see all of the colorful sweaters and to shake Annabelle's hand. A Duke offers Annabelle 1 million, 2 million dollars, and finally 3 million dollars to buy her miraculous box of yarn, but Annabelle refuses her offer. The Duke then hires 3 robbers to steal the box of yarn, and sails back to her castle. Upon discovering that the box is empty, the Duke is angry and throws it out the window. The book is summed up with an image of the miraculous box sailing back to Annabelle on a small raft.This book is just as miraculous as Annabelle's box of endless, colorful yarn. Barnett uses simple, effective language to tell a story unlike any other. I think it is the subtle details that make this story so clever and fun. While listing all of the people and animals Annabelle knits sweaters for, the author includes a hilarious side not about Mr. Crabtree, a man who doesn't wear sweaters. Or pants. And for this reason, Annabelle knits him a hat. The fact that she knits sweaters for the animals is humor enough, but the addition of sweaters for the houses, pickup trucks, and other inanimate objects intensifies the tale and really brings the story to life. One illustration not only shows all of the houses in the town wearing their colorful sweaters, but a bird perched on his bird house, both clothed in colorful yarn. In addition to the clever attention to detail, the illustrations correspond so well with the text and enhance the story in a major way. The drawings are simple and geometric, so they don't take away from the vibrant story line. Klassen uses contrasting colors in a powerful way, illustrating the town in neutral colors, adding color with the introduction of the box of colorful yarn. I find it brilliant that the ending is not wordy and text-dominated, but relies on the illustrations to move the story along. Without the use of words, the reader knows that the magical box of yard sailed back to Annabelle on what looks like a tiny, white raft. Annabelle, in a colorless world with white snow and a black chimney soot, discovers a box filled with multicolored yarn that opens doors for her small town. In the beginning, Annabelle knits a sweater for herself and her dog, but then she realizes that she has enough yarn to make her classmates and then entire town sweaters. People traveled to see Annabelle's creations in person, one of them was a fashion archduke. The archduke offered any price for Annabelle's yarn, but she would not give it up. This drove the archduke to steal the box with the yarn from Annabelle's home. What will happen to Annabelle's magic box of yarn? The major theme is generosity. A fun activity for a teacher to do is discuss how one person can change a whole community; maybe even a teacher can see who has helped their school community. As a class, they can discuss how they can help their community.
What do You think about Extra Doux (2014)?
This book is so perfect with an inspiring, sweet, strong, creative young girl.
—meet9090
Love this cute story! Great illustrations too!
—momofzack
