Chicks with Sticks (Knit Two Together) by Elizabeth Lenhard Once again, I accidentally picked up the sequel first. Scottie, Tay, Amanda and Bella are four girls from different backgrounds who bonded over knitting in the first novel. Now they are the Chicks with Sticks, and have become trendsetters in their school. The book focuses mostly on Scottie, the Jewish girl, as she goes from fruitless crushes on almost any boy to her first kiss and the beginnings of a real relationship, and gets angsty about her favorite pastime becoming trendy rather than different. Tay, the tomboy, worries about becoming too entangled with her boyfriend. Bella, a biracial hippie girl, has decided to give up boys until college. Amanda worries that her boyfriends is in love with the idea of a rich and beautiful girlfriends (she’s both) rather than her. Through it all, the girls are sustained by knitting and their friendships. This teen novel is on the formulaic side, and hampered by the use of way too many internet abbreviations, even when they’re not on-line. I found myself guiltily enjoying it. If you like relationships and knitting, you probably will, too.