Pistes d'exploration

The book description says, “This looks like an ordinary box full of ordinary yarn. But it turns out it isn’t.” Discuss what this could mean. Do a picture walk and make further predictions and inferences about the magical yarn.

How do you think things in the town changed with all of Annabelle’s knitting? Pretend you are a recipient of a knitted item. Draw and write to show how you feel.

Why do you think the Archduke is willing to pay so much money for the box of yarn? Why does Annabelle refuse? Discuss with a partner and share your thinking with the class.

Sometimes an author will use a magical item to represent an idea. What do you think the yarn could represent? What message do you think the author is trying to share? Use examples from the story to help explain your thinking.

Talk about a special talent that you have. Discuss how you can share this talent with others.

Discuss the concept of sharing. Is it a good thing? Why/Why not? How does it make you feel when you share? Are there things you don’t want to share?

Talk about the archduke. Discuss why he would absolutely need to have the miraculous box of yarn.

Write a list of arguments why Annabelle or the archduke should keep the box of yarn.

Advertise a talent you could freely share with others in the class. Write an ad for the classroom bulletin board.

Lester's Dreadful Sweaters

Mots-clés

Picture book , generosity , greed , kindness , knitting , sharing , valuing , yarn

Commentaire descriptif

One winter day, in a gloomy gray town, Annabelle finds a box filled with yarn of every colour. “So she went home and knit herself a sweater.” The precision and simplicity of the language is a pleasure to read; its quiet humour resonates. When Nate laughs at Annabelle’s sweater, she says. “You’re just jealous.” “No, I’m not,” he insists, and yet the next image shows Nate in his own new sweater. The tone of the text is deadpan: “But it turned out he was.” Simple, geometric forms and figures resemble cut-outs on blank, snowy backgrounds. Amid various shades of brown, black and gray, Annabelle’s multicoloured wool provides bright spots, as she gradually knits sweaters for every person, animal and even every house in the village. Annabelle, her wool and the town become famous. The notion of abundance is captured in the story’s variations on the refrain, “she still had extra yarn.” Yet when the archduke steals the box, it remains empty for him. He hurls the box out the castle window into the sea, sending with it a curse on Annabelle, “You will never be happy again!… But,” ends this delightful parable, as the box slowly drifts back to Annabelle’s shore, “it turned out she was.”