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Lester's Dreadful Sweaters

Campbell, K. G. (Keith Gordon), 1966- Book - 2012 None on shelf 1 request on 0 copies Community Rating: 4.7 out of 5

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When Lester's mysterious cousin Clara comes to stay with his family she insists on knitting him ugly sweaters and Lester must figure out how to accept the unwanted gifts without hurting his cousin's feelings.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Truly DREADFUL Sweaters submitted by skcramer on July 15, 2013, 8:43pm Lester is very particular about his appearance – his socks must be even and his hair combed just so – but when Cousin Clara comes to stay and knits him horrendous sweater after horrendous sweater, Lester becomes the laughingstock of his class. This picture book takes full advantage of its humorous premise, and the sweaters depicted in the illustrations are truly, laugh-out-loud dreadful. An excellent use of white space, muted backgrounds and dramatic viewpoints help to capture the humor. Readers will gleefully turn pages to see just how dreadful Lester’s next sweater will be and what means he will devise to destroy it. Indeed, the illustrations carry such a punch that the text sometimes dampers the humor by trying to describe what the illustrations more effectively show. Otherwise, the text is careful crafted with copious amounts of alliteration and subtle humor. Young readers may have trouble catching all the subtleties, such as Lester’s “curiously bad luck with sweaters” not being bad luck at all, but fortunately, one does not have to get all of these subtleties to appreciate the story.

nice and weird submitted by manz on July 17, 2014, 2:55pm Such a bizarre little book! But I liked it. It was pretty weird. But I loved the sad little story of poor Lester receiving these dreadful sweaters. And I loved that in the end he was able to find a use for them. So cute!

fun submitted by jackson.sarah.jean on November 16, 2015, 9:27am Fun and quirky book.

Sweet and quirky submitted by wendylv on July 18, 2018, 9:42pm This charming story will amuse you and your kids. The illustrations are delightful and really bring home the point of how truly dreadful these sweaters are. Lovely ending.

very cute story submitted by Rachyb03 on August 20, 2018, 9:23pm We loved this story. A knitting story is always a winner in this house.

Lester's Dreadful Sweaters submitted by SBNB on June 14, 2020, 8:19pm Fun book about Lester’s dreadful sweaters and all the creative ways he gets rid of them.

A Kid in Need of an Ugly Sweater Party submitted by Meginator on June 12, 2021, 9:43am What happens when a young boy who is fastidious about his appearance is forced by familial ties into some delightfully terrible sweaters? This humorous picture book has a nicely tidy ending and a nifty twist at the very end that keeps the story lighthearted where it could have veered into subtle cruelty. The joy in this book comes from the details in both the text and the illustrations- Campbell has special fun with alliteration and each sweater is good for a few laughs. This picture book feels pretty standard but has quite a bit of charm.

Delightful submitted by berkleya on August 19, 2023, 4:56pm Gotta love a kid's book with dreadful in the title.

Cover image for Lester's dreadful sweaters


PUBLISHED
Tonawanda, NY : Kids Can Press, c2012.
Year Published: 2012
Description: 1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 27 cm.
Language: English
Format: Book

ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9781554537709
1554537703

SUBJECTS
Sweaters -- Fiction.
Cousins -- Fiction.
Etiquette -- Fiction.