Knitty Kitty

While waiting to hear back from Adobe, I've been reading. My attention span is fairly short right now, so this was perfect to discover.

It's a picture book called Knitty Kitty, by David Elliott and Christopher Denise, just out.

The book is shown above against a background of the swatches for one of the chapters of Ethnic Knitting Exploration, the book by Donna Druchunas that should come out in October (I still hope to make it by the end of October, despite the computer; I have not heard back from Adobe yet about why electronic fiends continue to randomly destroy parts of my life file; I am working on images . . . but I am also going to play hooky for a while later today because I worked all Labor Day weekend).

Returning the distracted brain to my currently preferred topic:

In the world of picture books, I especially like those where chunks of the story are told in the images, rather than the text. That's definitely the case here. The words to be read, initially by the child-accompanying adult and later by the young person independently, are few and onomatopoetic. Knitty Kitty, the protagonist, does knit as much as some of us and the verbal part of the story clicks along with her. There are just enough words to set up an auditory interaction between adult and child snuggled in bed, and they're also set up to support early reading on the small person's part.

Everything else goes on in the visual domain:

The kittens remind me of a less destructive version of Antone over at Nake-Id Knits. I would link to a photo of Antone, but he is hard to find right now because Nake-Id Knits has just changed hosting. I'm sure he'll appear again soon, probably with some newly knitted item between his teeth.

Every knitter who likes cats (what percentage would that be?) would be well advised to at least take a look at this book. Then suggest that the local library order a copy, so others can discover it. Then think of young people who might like to receive Knitty Kitty as a present for the upcoming (no, don't think about it) holidays.

The publisher's suggested age range is 4 to 8 years. The text runs along at the lower end of this span. I do like the idea of new readers learning independence on a book exactly like this (think: knit as one of the first words a kid recognizes in print!).

The images require a bit of visual sophistication to interpret, appropriate to the 4-to-8 crew: these aren't block colors or simplified figures. But I'd probably introduce this book to a small person any time after he or she got past the ripping-the-pages stage. The colors and style of the book will work for boys as well as girls.

Knitty Kitty is a perfect end-of-day story, one that sets the tone for good dreams and sweetens the night with kid/adult interaction, along with an easing nudge toward independent reading.

Enjoy.

 

Comments

[Kris]

Ah! The perfect book to inoculate my almost-arrived granddaughter, so she will properly bug her mom into taking her to the knitting store as soon as possible! Thank you!
Kris

[David Elliott]

Thanks for the plug! I wanted to point out, too, that the publisher's website (www.candlewick.com) has downloadable patterns for knitting projects like those Knitty Kitty herself is working on.

[Deborah Robson]

Thanks, David. This specific page http://tinyurl.com/6chc99 for the book (TinyURL version) has a link to a one-page PDF with two striped projects: a scarf in garter stitch and a simple stocking-cap-style hat in stockinette.

The projects are set up for DK yarn and US 6 needles. Both are knitted flat; the hat is seamed up the back when finished.