It's a Purl Thing (Chicks with Sticks, #1) by Elizabeth Lenhard

It's a Purl Thing (Chicks with Sticks, #1) Reviews

• 
  Cyndi

  A cute book of friendship. Our heroine is trying to find her path following the loss of a treasured aunt. She finds that knitting is calming. Then she pulls in three other young girls and they become a knitting posse.
  
• 
  LibraryDanielle

  cute, but totally unrealistic. the teens learn to knit in days and go from scarves to sweaters immediately. they never seem to buy anything from the store (yarn is expensive yo), they just wander in and out whenever they feel like it, etc. so that was annoying, but still cute
• 
  Jennifer Wardrip

  Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com
  
  Fifteen-year-old Scottie has trains roaring through her dreams at night, resulting in hours of early morning insomnia. It's been like this since Aunt Roz's funeral. To make it worse, she's begun to feel like a stranger in her own home-turned-art gallery. Her mother spends days in a trance creating bizarre paintings that have become the new "must-have" art, and her dad spends hours on the phone schmoozing potential buyers and scheduling the next art party.
  
  Scottie's parents don't seem to remember she exists and Scottie fears that she's becoming invisible to her best friend, Amanda, as well. Amanda has left her for the popular clique as she developed curves that Scottie is, so far, lacking. Scottie's life is falling apart. Only a ball of yarn and a couple of needles keep her from becoming completely frayed.
  
  Early one morning, once again wide-awake, she discovers the knitting her Aunt Lucille had pressed into her hands at her Aunt Roz's shivah, under a pile of clothes on the rug at her feet. Intrigued, she tries a stitch, surprised she can remember the "spike, loop, swish" knitting motion. One stitch turns into an entire row. Scottie feels the tension leaving her shoulders. Without thinking, she crams her knitting into her book bag as she prepares to leave for school.
  
  Under pressure with Amanda and her new friends at lunch, Scottie whips out her swatch and ball of yarn and begins knitting. So much for being invisible. Scottie becomes so hooked on knitting that she goes in search of a store named KnitWit and finds herself staying for a free class offered by the owner, Alice. Fate intervenes and Amanda shows up, along with other girls from her school, Tay and Bella.
  
  It doesn't take long before they become the "Chicks with Sticks" and Scottie finds comfort in finally belonging somewhere. But will the feeling last? It seems friends are dropping as often as she drops stitches. Amanda deserts her to free-form with her new knitting friends after her Learning Disability session at the college. Bella becomes so engrossed in knitting that she prefers solitude with her afghan. And Tay blames Scottie for the problems between her and Josh. And when she finally gets the nerve to tell her parents that she's a knitter, they get all excited that she's decided to be a "fiber artist," whatever that is. She turns to Alice only to find KnitWit's doors are closed on their meeting night.
  
  Elizabeth Lenhard has created a warm, woolly read in IT'S A PURL THING. As a knitter, I found myself itching to grab my needles and feel the familiar comfort of K3, P3 of my current work-in-progress in soft homespun lavender. Teens are taking up their needles and creating beautiful works of art. I encourage you to join them. But before you do, take a moment to curl up with IT'S A PURL THING.
• 
  Kathy

  You know, I liked this book. I can't bring myself to rate it higher than three stars, though, because of a couple of things.
  
  First, the character "Alice" is one of the biggest Mary Sues who ever Sued. Now, I don't have anything against using your personal life experience in writing. In fact, I think it makes the writing more believable and immediate.
  
  However, it's the lack of flaws in characters, their utter perfection at everything they touch, that makes me start to pull away from the writing. Yes, Alice was slightly, just SLIGHTLY insensitive to someone, and this could be seen as a flaw, but the way it was dealt with in the book just made it yet another wonderful, glorious TRIUMPH!! Bleh. It made it apparent I was reading a book, and not listening to a story, if you understand the difference.
  
  Second, the parents in the book are featureless caricatures instead of characters. I understand that sometimes adolescents (the main characters of the book) feel that way, but it was really completely unrelenting. They were featureless, insensitive, robotic drones repeating the same one-line characterization over and over. It got kind of tired.
  
  Third, the resolution at the end of the book seemed rushed and a little weak.
  
  The writing was good enough. The characters were likable, even if their motivations seemed paper-thin a few times. And hey, I'm a KNITTER for goodness' sake, and even I found some of the knitting analogies wanky. Not to mention, there's the fact that the characters in the book were knitting projects way over their heads at times, and the amount of time that some things take (booties in TWO HOURS? bzuh?) was completely unrealistic at times. If you're going to put in all that detail about knitting, it really seems like it shouldn't be fudged for the sake of the story the way it really was in several places. Also, their angst about being "caught" knitting got OLD. That dead horse was beaten into spam by the end of the book.
  
  I know that sounds like a lot of flaws, but it wasn't a horrible experience. Like I said, the writing itself was fine, readable, and enjoyable if you can grit your teeth through the moments that are rough around the edges.
• 
  Sarah

  Scottie is a sophomore in high school who is going through a rough time—her favorite aunt in the world just died in a tragic accident, her parents act like they’re from another planet, and she and her best friend Amanda are no longer as close as they once were. She first encounters knitting while sitting shivah. After her aunt’s funeral, Scottie is watching the adults wander around sadly when her Aunt Lucille spots her and basically forces her to learn to how to knit. Scottie humors her (just to be polite) and escapes as soon as she can, but not before Aunt Lucille gives her the knitting needles and yarn to keep. Only when Scottie’s grief keeps her up at night does she remember the needles and yarn—and she also remembers the movements her aunt taught her. Before she knows it, she’s knitting on her own and she’s feeling a little better.
  
  Pretty soon Scottie runs out of yarn and needs to get more. She stumbles across a wonderful little yarn store called KnitWit and falls in love with it immediately. Also much to her surprise (and delight) Amanda picks up knitting as well and they are able to mend their relationship. The friends meet two girls there named Tay and Bella who go to the same high school as they do. They share a love of knitting and celebrate their individuality.
  
  Chicks with Sticks (It’s a Purl Thing) is a great story. Author Elizabeth Lenhard does a great job of making each girl unique in her own way. She has created a regular story about girls dealing with life while weaving in a theme of knitting at the same time. The books that follow are: Chicks with Sticks (Knit Two Together) then Chicks with Sticks (Knitwise).
  
• 
  Debbie Hates the New Book Page Redesign

  Eh. It was all right, I guess. I was expecting so much more from the hype I've heard about it. I found it rather shallow and not nearly as interesting and engrossing as it could be. Utterly forgettable.
  
  ETA: You know what's really tacky? When authors or their supporters comment on negative reviews on a review site. This was a two-starred review. Now it's a one-star.
• 
  Chris

  It's hard for this lifelong knitter to imagine that there is actually a genre of books all about how disparate people (mostly women) can come together and solve their problems while they knit. But there is. In this particular case, it is a group of teenagers--one somewhat average girl who is ignored by her famous artist-mother and grieving the death of a much-beloved aunt, a beautiful girl from a very wealthy family who struggles with a learning disability, a "free-spirit" who wears her blond hair in dreads and is into self-actualization, and the very boyish-girl who takes up knitting only on a dare from her guidance counselor. Together they become the "chicks with sticks," trying to knit their way through adolescent angst. And there is Alice, the yarn-shop owning mother figure who helps the girls along. Lenhard puts a lot of real knitting into the book with frequent mention of real yarn brands and types. I keep wondering if there was an inside joke about size 12 needles, which are mentioned several times even though there is no such size. My problem with the book was that I couldn't figure out who it was aimed at. I found it hard to believe teens would read this and suddenly have the urge to form knitting clubs. But in reading the reviews, it seems like they're reading these faster than you can turn out a scarf with big needles and super-chunky yarn. So if you think this might be your thing, cast off!
• 
  Sandra Strange

  This novel is one of those cute, fun, Meg Cabot kinds of young adult chick books—with a couple of serious issues thrown in to make the book meaningful. Scottie, a 10th grader, feels overlooked by her prominent artist mother, and now her BFF isn’t: she’s moving away from Scottie into the “popular” group. Then, by accident, Scottie discovers a local yarn store, a new pastime in knitting, and a friendship group that helps her deal with the uncertainties that come with adolescence. Serious issues include dealing with learning disabilities when they clash with parental expectations, dealing with different kinds of parents, social disadvantages of long term “home schooling” and, of course, identity vs boyfriends. Positive and really fun to read, the novel comes with some knitting patterns, and is the beginning novel in an engaging series.
  
  
• 
  Chloe (Always Booked)

  This is a cute book about a group of 4 high school girls who find friendship and themselves through knitting. It starts when the main character is feeling disconnected from her friend group who seem to be growing more and more superficial. She decides to take up knitting on the advice of her aunt and finds a cute little shop. She’s there for a class one night when one of her friends walks in. The friend has a learning disorder and finds knitting is something she can do without thinking much. They meet 2 other girls (One a major tomboy and one a home school weird kid) and the 4 bond over knitting. This book follows the and the quirky store owner. It’s cute but not something I’m compelled to read any more of. It’s very much written for younger people and has silly drama all about boys and little stuff but it’s probably relatable for that audience.
• 
  Emma

  I thought that this book was a good way of saying that different girls with different personalities can have a strong bond. Scottie, Amanda, Tay, and Bella were all different high-schoolers who were all VERY different. Scottie had some family problems, Amanda had a learning disability, Tay was a spiky, tomboy, and Bella was... interesting.
  This unpredicted relationship was started by a knitting shop called KnitWit. KnitWit brought these very different girls together by knitting. This book was about the girls' journey to a deeper, even better relationship. This book is definitely one of my favorites.
• 
  Jessica

  A cute book about a teen girl and the friends she makes whilst learning to knit. I felt that tried a bit too hard to balance a message of Knitting is Fun! with more serious issues. Her relationship with her artistic mother was almost cartoonish, which I would have been all right with, if the other strong subplot hadn't been a very serious one about how her best friend was struggling with a learning disability. I think she should have kept it lighter, but it was a good read for budding knitters all the same.
• 
  Terri

  I'm still unsure if I liked this book or not. Amazingly enough 4 teenage girls picked up knitting needles one night and the next thing you know they are making huge blankets and complicated sweaters. Is it really that easy to do? A couple of women at work knit on a regular basis and I see them struggling and they have been knitting for a couple of years. That part distracted me from the story itself cause I didn't find it believable so I had problems investing myself in the story.
• 
  Natalie

  I bought this for a buck at the Penguin sale and am really enjoying it. I bought another one but am now frustrated to find out I bought 1 and 3...
  
  So far it is a cute book and an easy read. It's for teens and about teens, but I'm still enjoying it.
  
  ****
  I asked Mom to look for #2 when she went so now I've got all 3.
  
  I enjoyed this quite a bit. Cheesy teen angst and all.
• 
  Kate

  I grabbed this book because of the premise (knitting teens!), but was very disappointed by it. There wasn't much plot and the characters were not sympathetic - the only thing worth reading about were the descriptions of yarn!
• 
  Shea

  A book that teaches teen girls that fitting in is something that you can never be happy doing and that you can do anything you want.
• 
  Lynne - The Book Squirrel

  Aimed more a teens but still a fast read and great knitting subject for knit nuts like me!
• 
  Danada

  Fun YA novel full of teen angst, friendship, and most importantly, knitting!
• 
  Heather

  This book was given to me by a writer friend, because she knew that I enjoyed knitting (I also crochet). I have to say... when I first started reading it, I wasn't sure I'd like the story. However, once I got into the story and started meeting the rest of the characters, that all changed. I found myself drawn along with the characters - happy when they were happy, sad when they were sad, etc.
  
  It has the feel of a teenager sort of book. The main characters are all in high school. They're just getting their first crushes, etc. They also have... drama! When things start to go a little sideways, Scottie feels like her whole world is unravelling. That might annoy some people, but... I found it to be very realistic. It made the characters more relatable, perhaps because the author didn't drag it out for too long.
  
  All in all, I'm really glad that I read this book. I may even try to find the next one in the series. I'm looking forward to trying the free patterns that are included in the end of the book.
• 
  Bev Walker

  Sprinkled with knitting puns, aimed at teen knitters and may-be-knitters, those who were teens, and those of any age that knit, the plot is light, at times precious with happy coincidences. The 4 plain patterns at the end fell flat, where more outlandish would have been in keeping with the characters. A good summer day's read all the same.
  
• 
  Weisser

  Cute, kind of silly. For girls from the same school but from very different backgrounds come together in a bohemian knitting shop. Love the discussion of how knitting calms them and provides a safe place. Felt like it was too stereotypical of teenage girls in an urban environment.
• 
  Lynn

  I think I'm not the audience for this one.
• 
  Diana

  This was kinda bizarre, but also really enjoyable. Although I find it hard to believe how well everyone picked up knitting and how quick they were.
• 
  Heather(Gibby)

  It was a pretty shallow storyline, but it did ignite a desire to pick up my knitting needles again.
• 
  Raisa

  A friend give me this book as a gift. And I really enjoyed the book. We all look for that escape and we have friends there with that path. Even when not everything is perfect.
• 
  Beth

  Comfort reading an old favorite.
• 
  Kathryn Nordstrom

  This is a good book if you like crafts, and it has a good story line.