THE MAGIC BALL OF WOOL

Knitting needles create a world of delight for small forest animals and a means of rescue for a blue whale in this Spanish import.

After a ball of wool gently falls onto a hedgehog, a spider teaches him to knit. The other animals in the forest, curious as ever, come to visit. First, the mouse asks for a sweater, which magically turns into a ball of cheese. Mittens for a vain frog become a mirror. A balaclava for the bear becomes a shell that sounds of the sea. One hundred socks for a centipede become castanets. A scarf for a snail becomes a scooter. Alas, when the crab arrives all the way from the beach to ask for a strong rope to help a stranded whale, the hedgehog discovers that the wool is all but gone. Again, news spreads quickly, and the animals return their gifts. The hedgehog rewinds the bits of yarn from each item to fashion a rope, and butterfly emerges from the rope to save the whale. Writing in the style of a traditional folk tale, Isern has crafted a gentle story of camaraderie and magic with a light dose of ecology. Hilb’s colorful art creates a fairy-tale world with spotted mushrooms, swirls of crayon lines and miniature domiciles that will delight young readers.

Friendship, crafting and a touch of magic all in one.