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A Hat for Mrs. Goldman: A Story About Knitting and Love

By Jan Carr, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 4+

Knitting = love in this warm and fuzzy tale of kindness.

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In this heart-touching book about friendship, people of different ages and backgrounds knit each other hats and treat each other with care, making the book an excellent tool for teaching kindness. A Hat for Mrs. Goldman: A Story About Knitting and Love, Sophia, a young Mexican-American girl is friends with elderly Mrs. Goldman, who sprinkles her conversation with Yiddish and knits hats for all in need. But in the snowy winter, she herself doesn't have a hat, so Sophia picks up her knitting needles and takes matters into her own hands. The hat that results is lumpy and has holes, but Sophia fixes it with a batch of her specialty pom-poms.

The story itself is crafted with love. The text is simple but with vivid detail -- "The soft wool smells like Mrs. Goldman's chicken soup;" "tiny fluffs of snow fall on Mrs. Goldman's head" -- and G. Brian Karas' art conveys the love and warmth perfectly. The very touching takeaway of this story is that knitting (and love) can be "lumpy and bumpy," but that's OK, because you can always add a few pom-poms.

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