Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/02/2012 What kid hasn’t been on the receiving end of a truly hideous sweater? After Cousin Clara’s house is “consumed by a crocodile,” she—and her knitting needles—take up residence at Lester’s house, dooming him to a life of stitched misery. Fastidious Lester likes everything just so, from his socks aligned below the knee to his perfectly knotted tie. So when Cousin Clara presents him with a shapeless, hooded mustard-yellow sweater dotted with purple pom-poms, he is less than thrilled, especially when his father says, “He’ll wear it to school.” Quick-knitting Clara presents a parade of sweaters, each uglier than the last, and it ultimately takes a special sort to appreciate their value. Campbell’s muted, textured pencil-and-crayon illustrations extend the story’s darkish humor (Lester “clutched a large pair of scissors, and his hands were covered with red yarn”), particularly through facial details like Cousin Clara’s caterpillar eyebrows, mole, and wicked grin. Kids are gonna chuckle at this one, even as they swear they don’t know what happened to Grandma’s last birthday gift. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 11/01/2012 When Cousin Clara comes to stay with Lester’s family, she very kindly makes young Lester a sweater. And what a sweater: mustard yellow, ornamented with purple pom-poms, and sporting holes in the wrong places, the garment horrifies orderly Lester, who quickly ensures that it suffers “an unfortunate accident.” This hideous sweater is followed by many more, each of which poor Lester destroys, until he is forced to wear a feathery one to a classmate’s party and the hired clowns rave over it. Lester quickly arranges a meeting between the clowns and Cousin Clara, and “on the spot, Cousin Clara was offered a job, knitting for the whole troupe”-and, fortunately for Lester, traveling with them as well. Although this story is a little contrived, its basic premise-homemade gifts that secretly appall the recipient-is one to which many folks can relate, and fashion-conscious kids will commiserate with poor Lester and his hideous knitwear. Campbell’s subtly humorous, soft-edged pencil crayon illustrations are well suited to the faux serious tone of this wacky story. Ginger-haired Lester is a sympathetic guy as he positively droops in his malformed sweaters while his classmates recoil in horror or disparagingly point at the sight. Particularly arresting is the scene in which Lester is literally caught “red-handed” (his hands and scissors drip with blood-red yarn) as he annihilates a pile of sweaters while his horrified parents look on. Pair this with Barnett’s Extra Yarn (BCCB 1/11) for a sweater-centric storytime, or share it with kids as the holiday season approaches for a humorous look at gift-giving gone wrong. JH - Copyright 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 10/01/2012 Gr 1-3—When her cottage is devoured by a crocodile, Cousin Clara comes to stay with Lester and his family. The problem is, no one is really sure if she's even related. She brings along a severe lack of talent in knitting, clickety-clicking the most dreadful sweaters for Lester, a rather odd boy in his own right. Her first creation is a bilious yellow number with purple pom-poms and sleeves of uneven length. Feigning a tepid "thank you," Lester is horrified when Dad announces that he will wear the sweater to school the next day. Things do not go well. Later, the yellow sweater mysteriously meets its demise in the washing machine, but Cousin Clara makes another one, clickety-click, clickety-click. This one is pink with upside pockets. It suffers a similar fate, being shredded by the lawn mower. But, Cousin Clara knits another. And another, and another. Soon, there is a mountain of dreadful sweaters that Lester tries to destroy. But, clickety-click, Cousin Clara has another sweater for him, a birdlike design, just in time for a classmate's party. Lester is mortified wearing it, but as it turns out, the party clowns love it. Cousin Clara finds employment with the circus, where her "talent" is finally appreciated. Rendered in pencil crayon, the illustrations are retro in design and palette, suggesting the 1930s. The facial expressions are humorous, especially Lester's mom's. The illustrations are delightful, but this odd tale may find a limited audience.—Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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