Stories for Growing
Cover of Extra YarnAges 4 to 7
GenerosityKindness

Extra Yarn

Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Ages 4 to 7
About this age guidance

Kirkus: 4–7; Publishers Weekly: 4–8

The age tag follows Kirkus review. Other sources may suggest different ages. This is audience guidance, not an independent reading level.

A parent calls it their family’s favorite picture book. He praises Annabelle as a role model who keeps giving, even to grumpy people and a bully.

A girl in a dreary snow-and-soot town finds a box of yarn that never runs out. She knits sweaters for herself and her dog, then for everyone and everything in town. A greedy archduke offers money for the box, and when Annabelle refuses he steals it. The box turns out to be empty in his hands and finds its way back to her.

Good forWanting to help

Recommended by Dad Suggests

Find at Bookshop.org Find on Amazon

Choose your preferred shop and check the edition there.

What children see in the story

Annabelle gives sweaters from her never-ending yarn to her dog, her neighbors, her classmates, even the buildings, instead of keeping the yarn for herself. She keeps knitting for people who are grumpy with her, including a bully, and her gifts make the whole town warmer.

Why it’s on these shelves

Generosity
Annabelle finds a box of yarn that never runs out and knits sweaters for her dog, her neighbors, her classmates and teacher, even the buildings in town, until the whole gray place glows with color.
Kindness
Annabelle keeps knitting for people who are grumpy with her, even a bully named Nate, and does not get grumpy back. The warmth spreads through the town while she stays kind.

Why pick it up?

The archduke gains nothing, the box returns and Annabelle keeps her sweater-covered town.

A note for parents

Kirkus calls it “a quiet story of sharing with no strings attached.” PW calls the archduke villainous and says the magic is left a mystery. The parent post is an adult-voiced review; the detail about Nate comes from it only. Caldecott Honor 2013 and Boston Globe-Horn Book Award appear in the audit paper and in Kirkus page links, not in a page opened for this record.

Where this recommendation comes from

Dad Suggests

A parent calls it their family’s favorite picture book. He praises Annabelle as a role model who keeps giving, even to grumpy people and a bully.

Read Dad Suggests’s recommendation
Sources and review status

We have checked source descriptions and drafted the value mapping. We have not personally reviewed the full book. The value labels, situation assignments, and parent notes remain provisional.

Publisher or literacy resource · Original recommendation

Our explanation of the value fit is separate from the original reviewer’s judgment. Their inclusion here does not imply an endorsement of Stories for Growing.

Another good example

Browse more values