Violet is excited at the upcoming visit of the Red Cross to her school. She listens carefully to the lady, learning about what the Red Cross is doing for NZ soldiers overseas.

“They need all sorts of items,

including food, clothing, soap

razor blades, socks and scarves.”

Violet’s own brother George is off fighting in the war, and another brother Lionel is due to join him soon. How can she help a soldier so far away? She is only eight years old.

Later at home, Violet’s mother has a suggestion. Violet loves the idea and begins to knit – a scarf. But unfortunately there isn’t time to just sit and knit. Violet, like all her siblings, must work on their family farm. There are always jobs to do, and Violet fits her knitting in between, wondering where her scarf might end up.

Hers is only one of thousands of parcels to be collected by the Red Cross the length of New Zealand.

She never imagines whose hands it might land in after travelling up the South Island of New Zealand, across the Tasman Sea to Australia, to Africa, England and France.

When it does land, it finds very special hands in a chance in millions, and eventually finds its way home to New Zealand again.

This is a special true Anzac story from World War 1, about a little girl from New Zealand and a scarf she knitted to help the war effort. Little did she know it would find one of her own, thousands of miles from home. It’s not only an amazing chance in a million story, it is a snapshot of NZ life at the bottom of the South Island in 1914.

Emma Lay’s illustrations take the reader on a journey from Violet’s desire to help a soldier, through the knitting, and across the world with the parcel, right into a loved one’s hands. There is a photo of Violet and her family in the rear of the book, along with a timeline, more information about the war and also the scarf itself.

A perfect addition to any school or home ANZAC book collection.

Author – Colleen Brown

Illustrator – Emma Lay

Picture Book

See Violet’s Scarf in a New Zealand News Article here

Want your own copy? Find it here

(2023, Copy Press, War, Family, Hand Knitting, Parcels, World War 1, WWI, Soldiers, Riverton, South Island, NZ, New Zealand, Historical, Kindness, Brothers, ANZAC)