Book: Lola’s Woolly Jumper

By Samantha Van De Kerckhove
Published by Your Nickel's Worth Publishing
Review by Michelle Shaw

Prairie author Samantha Van De Kerckhove’s love for drawing, painting and storytelling come together beautifully in her children’s book Lola’s Woolly Jumper, which she wrote and illustrated as a gift to her beloved niece and nephews. The term “woolly jumper” is a nod to their family’s Irish heritage.

The story follows the adventures of Lola, a happy little lamb who has one wish above everything. She wants a jumper (sweater) just like Farmer Joe’s. Farmer Joe just smiles at her and says: “You can have a jumper like mine. You just have to make it yourself!”

Lola tries out various possible solutions around the farm as she puzzles over this problem. But nothing seems to work. The seasons slowly change and finally winter gives way to spring. And Lola discovers that the answer was quite literally all around her.

But the story doesn’t end there. We follow the process as Lola’s woolly coat is clipped, cleaned, untangled, spun and dyed. And finally, she has her very own jumper.

It’s a simple story on the surface but filled with so much that children can learn, enjoy and have fun with. The 32-page soft-covered book is full colour and the drawings are bright and bold with lots of details. The barn, the farmer and all the animals actually reminded me of my children’s Duplo® toy farm animals which made it extra special. I especially loved the expressions on the animals’ faces and the ongoing quirky antics of the cat and mouse in the background of the pictures.

I think this is a fun book for children. There are a few words that a young reader might not understand such as when they roll the wool through a “carder”, but the illustrations relate well to the text and help the reader to work out what the word means. There are only a few lines of text on each page which helps to move the story along without overwhelming the beginner reader with too much information.

Samantha van der Kerckhove was born on the Canadian prairies but is an avid adventurer who spends most of her time studying rocks and camping in the wilderness of northern Saskatchewan.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM.