January Book Review: Chicks With Sticks: it’s a purl thing by Elizabeth Lenhard January 13, 2008

Chicks With Sticks : it’s a purl thing is the story of four teenage girls who knit.  The main character is Scottie, who is grieving over the death of her favorite aunt.  Basically, her life is a mess.  Her best friend has become the most popular girl at the high school, and left Scottie behind, her mom has become an semi-famous in Chicago’s art world, and left Scottie behind, and her dad hopped right on board with her mom, (you guessed it) leaving Scottie behind.  And then she learns to knit.  At this point, she makes two new friends and gets her best friend back, and it’s just too good to be true.  Elizabeth Lenhard’s characters must live in Stereotype City, not Chicago, because they are as follows- the angsty teen who thinks she’s a nobody, the popular girl with a deep, dark, secret, the  tattooed, pierced, sk8r grrl in black cargo pants, and the weirdo yoga nut, who’s head is not only adorned with dreadlocks, but who also meditates daily, and doesn’t have an ounce of normalacy.  At any rate, the four friends become tied to eachother, and also to the fabulous local yarn shop.  They also pull off some amazing stuff with their sticks, including an utter impossibility - knitting a pair of booties in an hour.  I hereby challenge any knitter who thinks they can equal this feat to try it, and see for themselves just how impossible it is.  Anyway, good stuff about this book.  Elizabeth Lenhard has great discriptions, and she does think up some characters and situations that are fun to read about, even if they are steroetyped and predictable.  For boy-crazy readers, the Chicks books (or at least the other two) are heaven.  Non boy-crazy readers can still enjoy the books, if they’re not completely grossed out by kissing and talk about boys.  If you’re a boy reading this review, do not despair!  We hope to get a male knitter for the site very soon, who will be able to post non-girly stuff.  But, for now, sorry, boys.  I won’t tell you how Chicks With Sticks ends, but I will say that the ending is great. 

Wildwool, a.k.a. Lily