Lucy and the String

by Vanessa Roeder

A sweet and silly tale of unexpected friendship between a girl and the bear she finds at the end of a string.

When Lucy spots a string, she can't help but give it a yank, and before she knows it, she meets Hank! But this bear isn't quite sure what to make of Lucy, especially because the string is attached to his pants, and they're unraveling fast!

Now Lucy must dream up the perfect solution to Hank's missing pants, and hopefully win this dubious bear's heart along the way.

Vanessa Roeder's picture book debut is a heart-filled tale of curiosity, innovation, and finding friendship in unexpected places.

Genres: Picture Books, Friendship, Storytime, Childrens, Knitting, Humor, Kids

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Vanessa Roeder is an author and illustrator whose work includes Lucy and the String and The Box Turtle, a Parents Magazine Best Children's Book. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and three kids.

Reviews

[Javi reads and reads and reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Que tierna la historia. No estoy segura de la enseñanza, pero me entretuvo y las ilustraciones son preciosas

[Aily · Rating 4 out of 5]

è stato molto simpatico, un piccolo libro sull'amicizia :) nulla da dire, alla fine era un libro per i più piccoli, ma il fatto che abbiano rappresentato l'amicizia come un filo che lega due persone rende tutto più speciale <3

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely charmed by the twists and turns of this one! Super good.

[Meredith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lucy kind of sucks.

[Psicoleggimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Ma poi Lucy riprende il filo e con un colpo e uno strattone, il garbuglio colorato li lega di nuovo insieme!”.

Di chi stiamo parlando? Della piccola Lucy e dell’orso Hank, che sono raccontati nel libro della scrittrice e illustratrice Vanessa Roeder, “Lucy e il filo dell’amicizia”. Una storia divertente e creativa, che racconta in modo semplice il valore dell’amicizia e delle relazioni sociali, a partire da quando si è piccoli.

La piccola Lucy, infatti, trova un filo rosso e si domanda che cosa potrebbe esserci dall’altro capo. Tira e strattona finché scopre che il filo arriva dai pantaloni dell’orso Hank, che è rimasto col sedere al vento. Nel tentativo di aiutarlo a coprirsi, i due protagonisti s’incastrano per poi dover tagliare il filo e separarsi.

Riusciranno a riunirsi? Questo lo lasciamo scoprire a voi, mentre noi prendiamo spunto per parlarvi di un argomento che nel campo della psicologia è stato studiato molto, quello delle relazioni sociali. Da definizione, la relazione sociale è un processo di socializzazione che inizia fin dalla nascita e progredisce con lo sviluppo.

Si riferisce al rapporto che intercorre tra due o più individui e si può basare sia su sentimenti come l’amore, l’amicizia, la simpatia etc., sia su passioni condivise. In psicologia, i fattori che favoriscono la nascita delle relazioni vanno individuati fra le caratteristiche fisiche e sociali dell'ambiente in cui si trovano le persone, e sono: la prossimità, cioè la probabilità di avere contatti; la percezione di somiglianza, considerato il fattore principale di attrazione e la rivelazione di sé, cioè l'apertura all'altro (self-disclosure).

Una volta stabilita la relazione, è importante saperla mantenere e saperla gestire. Il processo d’instaurazione di relazioni sociali è di fondamentale importanza fin da quando si è piccoli, perché i rapporti sociali che s’instaurano nella fase di sviluppo fungono da schema di riferimento nella fase di transizione dell’individuo verso ruoli adulti. Quindi guardatevi intorno, e se trovate un filo da tirare, non spaventatevi, potrebbe solo essere l’inizio di qualche rapporto che vi farà crescere.

Recensione di Psicoleggimi

[Mundie Moms & Mundie Kids · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charming debut. This is such a cute story about friendship. With it's simple orange, gray, black and white color scheme, and simplistic illustrations, create an engaging picture book without being over stimulating. I loved the color scheme in this picture book. The story will delight young readers. It's one that will leave you pondering the possibilities of what you can find at the end of a piece of string you find. Luckily for Lucy it was a new, and unlikely friend. This is such a fun picture book. There are endless story time possibilities, and craft time ideas that can go along with this story. This is a picture book I would definitely recommend picking it up!

FULL REVIEW http://mundiekids.blogspot.com/2018/0...

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super cute story about a girl who discovers a string. The string belongs to a bear, whom she just unraveled! Lucy is hilarious all the ways she tries to fix the problem. A great storytime book.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun story about creativity and friendship. Due to the white background the colors really pop.

[Kris Dersch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just really didn't get it. I felt like it was unclear to small readers that the yarn came from unraveling the pants? Maybe you have to be a knitter. I dunno. Not for me.

[Danica Midlil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal Pet Peeve: Illustrating knitting incorrectly. If you are going to make a picture book all about unraveling and re-knitting some yarn, maybe you should spend half a minute looking up what knitting looks like while it's happening! %$#@$^&%#

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

[Brenda Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What would you do if you saw a loose string? Tug it, of course, especially when it is such an inviting red. What would you do if got stuck? Yank it until it gives, of course. What would you do if you discovered a grumpy big old bear at the end of that beautiful red yarn? He's grumpy because Lucy has unraveled his beautiful red sweater. How will our irrepressible heroine make amends? Find out when this delightful book hits the shelves in August. Using just three colors, Roeder has created a disarming story about how our actions have consequences and fixing one's mistakes. So cute!

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

It wasn't what I expected. I felt like the story wanted to be silly and I just wasn't having it. To me I felt like Lucy needed to stop giving both of them pants. She should have made pants for the bear not for the both of them since the string was originally Hank's pants. It just makes sense, but it just seemed like Lucy was having fun. The illustrations were really cute, but I didn't like Hank's pattern. It made me uncomfortable. I did like the colors in the book though and the ending was sweet, but overall I was not a fan of this book.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy finds a string and pulls. Turns out the string was attached to Hank, a bear. She makes the string into many things, but with each unravel, Hank loses more of his coat. Lucy decides to knit a sweater for herself and give her dress to Hank. But what will happen when they lose their connection?

Super sweet. Black and white with red for the string/bear's fur. It is almost too simple for Wyoming Reads, sadly.

[Bri Feltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Modern Fantasy Fiction
Grade Level: K-2nd
This is a super cute book with adorable illustrations. I think this book would really promote creative thinking as well as be super engaging for students. I think book could be used for SEL and talking about friendship and how we can help others much like Lucy helps her bear friend. This book would also be super great to have students brainstorm ways they could use a string (or another everyday object) to make their something new like Lucy did.

[Anna Staton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Modern Fantasy
Grade Level: 1st-2nd

This books illustrations reminded me a lot of "little red", which is also on my bookshelf. The red makes a big statement on the pages. I thing it was cool that she showed how many ways in art that you can use a line to represent something. She created so many things with the string (also a line)- I thought it was super creative. It is modern fantasy due to the bear being personified.

[C.D. Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 3 year old loves the pictures of this book. We've read the book many times over the past couple weeks. The story doesn't make a ton of sense to me as an adult. Why would Lucy knit herself a sweater and give her dress to the bear? Why not knit the bear a skirt? But my kid enjoys it and that is what matters.

[Orca · Rating 2 out of 5]

La mia prima impressione è stata che l’orso si accontentasse dell’usurpazione, più che dell’amicizia.
Mi è sembrata una violazione, quella della bambina: diverso sarebbe stato su invito. La storia potrebbe anche essere metafora dello scusarsi per aver superato un limite, anche se la mia prima risposta è stata di fastidio.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. The bear was upset that Lucy tugged on his string, but when they were separated, they missed each other; they missed the friendship and the fun of being with someone instead of alone.
I feel this book shows that it's fine to play alone, but it's nicer with a friend.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The one thing for me that makes this story so REAL is that Lucy is missing a front tooth! We don't often find that unless the story is about losing a tooth.
Color is limited to red, black, gray and white, but it very effective with the story line.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A girl pulls on a string and unravels a . . . knitted bear? The bear isn't too amused, but finally the girl knits herself a sweater and the bear gets to wear her dress as a skirt instead. And then she keeps unraveling him. A little perplexing with the moral, but the illustrations were well done!

[Bel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely art, simple and extremely effective. Smashing story. Loved this (my yarn problem might have had a baring on this :)

[Mary Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friendship, creativity, humor and a bear!!! What fun! Full review coming soon in School Library Connection.

[Linda V · Rating 4 out of 5]

A girl, a string and a bear. That's all it took to tell a charming story!

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute story about a girl, a bear and a red string.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jae · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny and precious and sweet

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 probably. The illustrations are really cute, and the interplay between Lucy and the Bear are fun. You just can't think about it too hard, otherwise the premise "unravels."

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy finds a string....that's attached to a bear's pants and - well - things become a bit unraveled. <3

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bear that unravels pushes on believably but there are some great turns of phrase and Lucy is a spunky character.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story. Nice limited palette.