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" Randall de S\u00E8ve believes that reading with your child doesn&amp;#039;t have to be a selfless act\u2014that sharing kids books should be enjoyable for adults, too. She&amp;#039;s excited to recommend some of her favorites in this regular new column, along with fun, story-based activites to go with them. Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen  I can&amp;#039;t get 2013 Caldecott Honor book, Extra Yarn (Balzer + Bray, 2012) out of my head. I bought it yesterday at our local bookstore because, well, I couldn&amp;#039;t let it out of my hands. It was pure magic, and it had me enchanted. It&amp;#039;s the simple-seeming story of a little girl named Annabelle, who transforms her &amp;quot;cold little town, where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow or the black of soot from chimneys&amp;quot; by knitting colorful sweaters for every person, animal, and thing in it.  Anabelle works from a &amp;quot;miraculous box of yarn&amp;quot; that never runs out \u2014 &amp;quot;she still had extra yarn&amp;quot; \u2014 and nothing stops her: not a bully, not a grouchy teacher, not even a greedy archduke. With quiet persistence, Anabelle keeps on knitting.  &amp;quot;She&amp;#039;s making happiness,&amp;quot; my younger daughter explained last night, after flipping back through Jon Klassen&amp;#039;s (I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat \u2014 2013 Caldecott Award winner) gorgeous color-infused collage images. Which is just the point of this not so simple story \u2014 and just what we (who don&amp;#039;t knit) did after reading it.  Pom-poms! Pom-people!  Pure magic. You can make pom-poms, too, with this easy tutorial. What you do with them is up to you! Randall de Seve is the author of New York Times bestseller Toy Boat, The Duchess of Whimsy, Mathilda and the Orange Balloon, and Peanut and Fifi Have a Ball. She also spent many happy years teaching young children in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and a very wicked dog named Henry Biscuit. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/mom-kids/news/a15132/extra-yarn-mac-barnett/>