about the book
When “Cousin Clara’s cottage [is] consumed by a crocodile,” she comes to stay with Lester and his family. At first Lester is delighted to have her as a friend in the house, and when she tells him she is going to knit him a sweater—out of some of the only yarn she managed to save from the crocodile—Lester at first thinks she is very kind.
Then he sees the sweater.
It is an abominable thing, a “less-than-pleasant yellow” hoodie, with one sleeve too long, ugly purple poms stuck to it willy-nilly, holes where there shouldn’t be any, and yet no holes where there ought to have been. Lester hates it.
His parents force him to wear it.
Lester looks for not-mean ways of getting rid of the ugly thing, but as soon as he does, Clara produces ANOTHER one!? And another. And another…
Will Lester ever be able to get his dignity back?
about the author
Keith Gordon Campbell was born in the exotic, sweltering wilderness of Kenya, a place full of wildebeest and other creatures that few westerners have ever seen up close. His stay in Kenya didn’t last long, however, as he was taken to what he calls a “damp and salty island nation in the Far North,” otherwise known as Scotland.
Keith’s school lived in the shadow cast by a black castle. The school is very old, with turrets and probably a few ghosts, Keith guesses, but this only served to fuel his fascination with the gothic, ghoulish, and ghastly. He never came to like sports. He would much rather sit in a possibly ghost-occupied corner of his castle-like school and draw funny characters, then make up stories to go with them. After growing up a bit, Keith attended the University of Edinburgh and got a Masters in Art History.
Art History was okay, but not really a career-worthy pursuit. Somehow, and he still doesn’t know how, Keith ended up doing interior design in Hollywood, California! This was pretty neat actually, but Keith never forgot his love for drawing and story.
Soon he got the crazy idea that he had enough drawings and short stories to make up a portfolio, and he began sending manuscripts to publishers. At last someone gave Keith a break, and that led to Lester’s Dreadful Sweaters, the first book Keith wrote and illustrated himself.
Today Keith lives in California and no longer does interior design. He is a full-time writer and illustrator.
Source:
Author website
Author biography: Kids Can Press
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