Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story

Knit Your Bit by Deborah Hopkinson is a book about World War I. It is a story of a little boy named Mikey, whose father is leaving to fight in the war and he feels that he needs to do something to support his father and the troops. His mother and his sister begin knitting scarves and hats for the troops but the boy feels that knitting is for girls. At school that week there is a poster in the classroom for a knitting tournament for teams in Central Park. The teacher wants the students to sign up but the boys only sign up to compete against the girls. At the day of the knitting tournament, Mikey tries to make a pair of socks and he makes one sock perfectly. Unfortunately, he drops a stitch at the beginning of the second sock but does not notice till he is almost done. Right when he is about to give up a wounded soldier walks over to Mikey and begins to tell him to never give up.

This is a great story about the United States during World War I. This book would be great for any teacher talking about this time in their classroom. This story is also about trying your best and that any little act of kindness can go a long way. In this book, Mikey struggles to understand how knitting can do so much for soldiers but he realizes later that the clothes they are making are being worn by these soldiers to keep them warm. Parents could read this story to their children to explain that doing charity work can go a long way.