PICTURE BOOK - A Hat for Mrs. Goldman by Michelle Edwards

A Story About Knitting and Love
Illustrated by G. Brian Karas

2016, Schwartz & Wade Books

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.34 - 386 ratings

My rating:  5 stars

Endpapers:  Front:  vague knit stitches  Back:  the same vague knit stitches plus pompoms!

Hat AND PomPom instructins follow the story...and they're really easy!

1^st line/s:  "When Sophia was a tiny baby, Mrs. Goldman next door knit her a tiny baby hat to keep her warm."

My comments:  Okay, I love this book.  LOVE it!  Mrs. Goldman knits hats for everyone she knows, many, many hats.  Sophia tries to knit, but discovers she'd rather make pomp poms for Mrs. Goldman's hats.  She's really good at that, and Mrs. Goldman assures her that it's a mitzvah.  Okay, I'm sold.  Knitting.  Mitzvahs. Hooray!  You could end right there and I'd be happy. But then Sophia discovers that Mrs. Goldman has given her own hat away, and their long winter walks are cold and blow Mrs. Goldman's hair everywhere.  Sophia comes up with a plan....and problem-solves through issues she encounters until the story reaches a very satisfying conclusion.  Bravo!

Goodreads:  Here’s a heartwarming winter picture book that’s sure to appeal to families who love knitting. 
          Mrs. Goldman always knits hats for everyone in the neighborhood, and Sophia, who thinks knitting is too hard, helps by making the pom-poms. But now winter is here, and Mrs. Goldman herself doesn’t have a hat—she’s too busy making hats for everyone else! It’s up to Sophia to buckle down and knit a hat for Mrs. Goldman. But try as Sophia might, the hat turns out lumpy, the stitches aren’t even, and there are holes where there shouldn’t be holes. Sophia is devastated until she gets an idea that will make Mrs. Goldman’s hat the most wonderful of all. Readers both young and old will relate to Sophia’s frustrations, as well as her delight in making something special for someone she loves.

The Mitten Tree - Candace Christiansen

Illustrated by Elaine Greenstein Fulcrum Publishing; Golden, CO, 1997, 2009 Paper $7.95 32 pages Rating: 4 "Old Sarah" (okay, let's stop right now and say I hate that that's her name) watches the neighborhood children play. She misses the time when her own children were young. One day she notices a boy standing to the side, watching the kids make a snowman. His hands are shoved in his pockets and she realizes that he has no mittens to wear. Sarah hunts through her house for her old supply of leftover yarn and begins knitting a pair of mittens. She works all night and then hangs them on a tree near the school bus stop for the boy to find....which he does. She begins to knit more and more mittens for the neighborhood kids, leaving them anonomously hanging on a big decidious tree (thus: the mitten tree). And when she runs out of yarn , a big basket of yarn appears at her door. No one's paid any attention to her, so the book ends with this small, wonderful, mystery. Who's been watching her and who cares enough to do this? Cool book. I just bought five copies and I've been knitting mittens like crazy for the last couple of days. I've also found a fleece mitten pattern that looks pretty easy, and fleece is pretty inexpensive. So as my list of new nieces and nephews begins to add up, I'm happily creating this year's Christmas present for all of them - a book, and two very different pairs of mittens! My favorite Christmas story when I was a kid was "Granny Glittens and her Amazing Mittens." Maybe I'll find a copy of the story and include it. I really loved that story! I'm not even sure why.