Extra Yarn

Extra Yarn

Written by Mac Barnett

Illustrated by Jon Klassen

Published by Balzer + Bray

Copyright 2012

40 pages

Fiction

Extra Yarn is a story about a little girl who knits herself a sweater. She wears it to school, and her teacher says it is too distracting to the other students. She knits sweaters for her classmates and other people in the town. What will happen when someone gets jealous of her yarn?

It seems like Jon Klassen used ink to illustrate Extra Yarn, because that is one of the media he usually uses. Klassen used dark colors to contrast the colorful yarn Annabelle used to knit the sweaters. The contrast between the dark colors and the bright colors showed that Annabelle’s sweaters made people happy. The dark colors were also used to portray a somber tone toward the end of the book.

This book would be beneficial in a second or third grade classroom. It would be too easy to read for students in higher grades.  This book could be used for a math lesson. Students could measure different lengths of string to learn about centimeters, inches, and feet. This book could also be used for a social studies lesson. Because the archduke tried to steal Annabelle’s yarn, students could research countries that have had archdukes. This book could also be used for a writing lesson. Students could write about what they would do with an endless supply of yarn. Extra Yarn received a Caldecott Honor in 2013.