HOW TO KNIT A MONSTER

Sometimes knitting can be monstrously adventuresome.

White goat Greta loves to knit. One day, she decides to move beyond her usual repertoire of socks and fashions one small knitted goat and then several more to keep each other company. Unfortunately, “mean Mrs. Sheep” enters and criticizes Greta’s craftsmanship. Angry, Greta stops paying attention to her knits and purls, her work grows to great lengths, and what should appear but a wolf who scares off the goats. He then “gobbles up Mrs. Sheep, wool and all,” and frightens Greta into a closet. Greta quickly crafts a ferocious-looking tiger who gobbles up the wolf. Not satisfied, the tiger wants some goat, too. Greta responds to this threat by creating a very big “MONSTER” who swallows up the tiger. But Greta is a smart knitter. She does not bind off her last stitch and proceeds to unravel her last creation, “riffle raffle riffle raffle whoosh.” All ends well for the gobbled-up animals, and Greta resumes her knitting—but does not pay careful attention to the green yarn on her needles. (Think toothy and crawly.) The story, told in the present tense, is well-paced and laced with onomatopoeia, and van Haeringen’s India ink, watercolor, and colored pencil illustrations are lively and amusing, especially when set against a white background. Greta keeps a smiling face even when dwarfed by her fearsome menagerie.

For those who enjoy seeing their beasts appear and disappear (and appear)