Synopsis
From watching Mom shepherd, shear, spin, and knit, a little girl finds out just how her sweater is made.
Children's Literature
On a snowy winter day, a young girl asks her mother the question she will ask on each double page: "What are you doing?" Each answer by her mother is followed by a brief rhyme. First she is feeding the sheep. As spring arrives, she is shearing the wool. Step by step we follow the process from the washing and drying of the wool to the carding, spinning, dying, and knitting, to the "Sweater snug, woolly hug" of the warm blue sweater made for the girl. On the final double page, the mother asks the girl what she is doing. "Feeding the sheep," she replies, as the cycle begins again. The naturalistic, detailed illustrations are boldly stated with heavy black outlines and opaque colors. As her mother cards the wool, the girl brushes a hairy dog, surrounded by her dolls and art supplies, and the cat watches from the couch. The emotional connection between them is evident. As she tells the intimate visual story, U'Ren delivers the basic information about wool from sheep to sweater. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz