I feel a little bad that my last couple of knitterly book reviews have been less than unequivocal. So I asked myself what I could really recommend, without any reservations, to everyone out there. Then I asked the kiddos for some suggestions. And here's what we came up with...

From me:

This brand new book, Knitted Critters for Kids to Wear: More Than 40 Animal-Themed Accessories, is soooo cute! It's got 20 different animal hat patterns, most with coordinating accessories like mittens or scarves. Not only are these things simply adorable, but I'm amazed at how such simple embellishments transform the basic hat shape into animals.

This whale is so cool! And he's an awesome example of the simple design elements
Jean Adel uses to transform the hats into critters.

The hats look very knitable for knitters of all levels. They're even divided up into chapters based on their level - either beginner, easy or intermediate.

Jeremiah the Frog is my favorite in the "beginner" patterns

I LOVE Bandit the Raccoon!

There are several doggie hats, but this one from the "intermediate" chapter is just perfect!
Don't you just love the little folded down ears?

Another thing I really like about the patterns in this book is that they're truly unisex. There are only a handful that seem too girly to work on a boy (and for a change, the "girl" patterns are not even the cutest ones!). It's just such a treat to find a book where you're getting as many good boy patterns as girl patterns. Especially when it's a book like this, that you probably want to have in your knitting library as your go-to kids' hat book for all the nieces and nephews and grandkids. The sizing is 3-7 years, so this book would be an excellent supplement to Itty-Bitty Hats, giving you a whole zoo of patterns for those now-toddlers you've spoiled into expecting unique, fun, knitted hats from you!

From the boys:

S loves Ivy & Bean!

The boys LOVE the Ivy and Bean series! I never would have thought to get them these, since they're about two girls, but my mom took a closer look at them and knew that the girls and the stories were so funny and cool that the boys would like them. She sent them the first two.

B loves book two

The second one, Ivy and Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go is B's favorite at the moment. They read through those two in no time and we had to rush out to get the lastest two, including the last one, Ivy and Bean: Take Care of the Babysitter, which is S's current favorite. They love the books so much that we even had to make special rules about choosing books to read in bed at night otherwise they'd fight over the Ivy & Bean books every night!

From wee one:

What can I say, she loves food and books. So this First Book of Sushi pretty much combines her two favorite things! And apparently, it's yummy too!

Happy reading from all of us!