“'What are you doing?’ the little girl asked. 'Feeding the sheep,’ her mother said. Snowy day, corn and hay.” “What are you doing?” is the repeated refrain of this engaging story spanning the cycle of the seasons. Each page spread introduces another scene in which the little girl asks the question and her mother replies, followed by a playful rhyme about the work being done. The end result is a story of how the sheep’s wool, which the mother shears in early spring, becomes a cozy blue sweater that she has knit for the little girl by autumn’s end. This terrific read-aloud has delightful language and a satisfying, full-circle conclusion, while the lively illustrations integrate each step of the wool-working into scenes that also depict the changing seasons, the love between the spirited girl and busy mom, and the warmth within their home. (Ages 3–6)

Day to day, season to season, Mom tends the family's small flock of sheep, and then shears and washes, cards and dyes, spins and knits. Every step of the way, her little girl watches and asks, "What are you doing?" As playful as it is informative, this rambunctiousread-aloud features a mother and daughter making a game of their warm and wooly enterprise.