Lester's Dreadful Sweaters by KG Campbell

Before you read this book you need to notice the crocodile tail on the half title page swimming into the title page where he is fully revealed. This crocodile is heading for Cousin Clara's river side cottage. Luckily Cousin Clara is away but her cottage is consumed by the crocodile.

Lester hears the news and adds crocodiles to his list of "suspicious stuff starting with C." Then "he checked that his socks were even ...and combed his hair."  From this one page we can deduce so much about Lester. He is a neat freak. He likes things to be orderly and organised. He probably does not like change and his life which, until now, is safe and predicable.  Of course the arrival of Cousin Clara is sure to upset everything and if you read the title again you will certainly predict that these dreadful sweaters will be the cause.

Clara arrives with her knitting basket. She seems happy to sit and knit. No one is disturbed until the morning Cousin Clara presents Lester with a new sweater.

"It was shriveled yet saggy.
It had holes where it shouldn't
and none where it should.
It was a less-than-pleasant yellow
and smothered with purple pom poms.
It was DREADFUL."

Horror of horrors, Lester is forced to wear this ugly creation to school where he has to endure the whispers and taunts of his classmates especially Enid Measles who makes "a less-than-pleasant remark."

Lester is a problem solver - but he also a little sneaky.  "Later, Lester's sweater was discovered in the laundry, all stringy and shrunken."

Cousin Clara is not worried because she has plenty of wool. The next morning Lester is presented with another sweater:

"This one covered bits it shouldn't and didn't cover bits it should. It was an irksome pink and dotted with oddly placed upside-down-pockets. It was GHASTLY."

Lester wears this creation to school and suffers all over again. He needs to take action. Later the second sweater is discovered in the yard where it has been shredded by the lawn mower.

BUT Cousin Clara is unstoppable. She keeps knitting these dreadful sweaters in shades of pumpkin, olive and turquoise. The sweaters become a woolly mountain "of cruel colours, appalling polka dots, frightening stripes, starting tassels and things with six fingers."

Lester attacks them all. The scene looks like a massacre but there is one more and, oh no,  Lester is about to attend a birthday party for Enid Measles.  Remember his list of suspicious stuff starting with C?  One item on this list was clowns and Enid has clowns at her party. "Lester disapproved of clowns" but these clowns love his sweater. Have you spotted the solution to Lester's problem? Are we heading for that all important happy ending?

This is not a new book. It was published in 2012 but I am happy to see it is still available. KG Campbell is the illustrator of Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo along with some other books I need to explore. Lester's Dreadful Sweaters has a Kirkus Star review. In 2016 someone produced a musical stage production of this text. Here is a wonderful trailer. Read this detailed and thoughtful review by Elizabeth Bird in the School Library Journal. Here is a set of teaching ideas and book talk teasers. AND best news of all I found a Reader's Theatre script. Finally here is an interview with the author.

I would compare the character Lester with another boy who thrives on being organised - Alistair from the books by Marilyn Sadler.

If you enjoy books about sweaters, jumpers and knitting look for these in your library or take a dip into my friend at Kinderbookboard and her pins called Yarn Yarns.