Knit-Knotters: A Branches Book (Stella and the Night Sprites #1)

by Sam Hay, Turine Tran (Illustrator)

Overview

Meet the night sprites—mischief-making fairy-like creatures that only Stella can see!

This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line called Branches, which is aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!Stella is upset when she finds out she needs glasses. But then it turns out her new glasses are magic! When she wears them, Stella can see the sparkly night sprites. In this first book, Stella meets Trixie, a knit-knotter sprite. Trixie seems nice, but she ties knots in kids' hair to make it all tingly-tangly. If Trixie doesn't stop tying knots, Stella will have to get a haircut! Can Stella stop her magical new friend from turning her hair into a tangled mess?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545819985
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/26/2016
Series:	Stella and the Night Sprites , #1
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Turine Tran was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam. She traveled all over the world learning about art-from Singapore to Paris to Scotland, where she earned a Masters of Art degree in Illustration from Edinburgh College of Art. She loves exploring new art techniques that help her create her whimsical art! She lives in England.
Sam Hay has always wanted to be a writer, and growing up in Scotland, she filled endless notebooks with stories and poems. She trained as a journalist and worked in newspapers and for BBC Television before writing her first children's book. Since then she's had more than twenty books published. Sam lives in Wales with her family and pets.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Branches books:"These books should be considered for larger libraries wanting to enhance their easy-reader collections." — School Library Journal"Plenty of drawings assist readers with plot development." — School Library Journal"A nice stepping stone to more advanced chapter books." — Booklist"We are absolutely desperate for these books. Thank you for recognizing and addressing [this] monumental gap in the market." — Andrew Medlar, Youth Materials Specialist, Chicago Public Library

From the Publisher

2015-11-25
Stella encounters the night sprites, mischievous nocturnal beings that steal socks, hide the caps of markers, and knit children's hair into knots, among other mild wickednesses, in this series opener. Stella's dubious enough about getting her first pair of glasses that her mother's declaration that her hair is so knotted it will need to be cut comes as a real blow. How will anyone recognize her? Furthermore, her new glasses aren't nearly sparkly enough. But a mysterious, colorfully dressed woman who claims to be much older than she looks waves a wand, and suddenly Stella's specs are satisfyingly sparkly. She likes the new crispness of the world she sees and how easy it is to read now. That night, her glasses also reveal Trixie, a knit-knotter whose job is snarling her hair. It seems there's a hairy-fairy in town who's in league with the knit-knotters to drum up business for her new salon. Can Stella convince Trixie not to knot her hair and thereby spare her a haircut? Hay's premise is mildly beguiling, but her worldbuilding is arbitrary and incomplete—likely due to the need to develop further night-sprite stories. While she evokes the experience of the change wrought by a new pair of glasses well, the plot as a whole is less than compelling, and characterization is thin. This slim chapter book has an even slimmer foundation. (Fantasy. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews