Extra Yarn

Annabelle, the dexterous heroine of Barnett and Klassen’s “Extra Yarn,” inhabits a monochrome world of grays and browns until she finds a box of brightly colored yarn in the snow. When the rainbow sweater she knits herself is a distraction at her humdrum school, she promises to knit sweaters for the whole class. “Impossible,” her teacher says. “You can’t.”

But Annabelle does, and the magical box of yarn just won’t run out, even after she knits sweaters for everyone in town, and then for the local animals and buildings. Klassen’s illustrations are the most absorbing part of this tale, wrapping Annabelle’s sooty, snowy town in mottled color and texture as her knitting progresses.

Alas, the story’s central conflict — the interference of a greedy archduke who appears out of nowhere to demand the yarn for himself — feels out of place, as the theme of creativity trumping negativity was already pleasing on its own. The second act also raises more questions than it answers. For example, it’s unclear why the archduke wants the yarn.