Originally published on my blog, Nine Pages.

I loved Penguin and Pinecone. I was a little bit less enthused about this sequel, possibly because it ditched the message of friendship in favor of a romantic storyline that really is not ideal for the audience to which this picture book claims to cater (which, yes, I recognize many of the films for kids of this same age do, but Disney gets something of a buy for having started with fairy tale retellings). Also, here the paraphernalia of knitting is a bit too prominent. It feels forced, forced into the plot and superseding the plot to the detriment of the plot. In the first book, knitting is a background theme, a way to show the passage of time, and a plot device; here it is more than that, too much.