The Truly Terribly Horrible Sweater…That Grandma Knit by Debbie Macomber and Mary Lou Carney, illustrated by Vincent Nguyen

(Suggested reading level: Ages 4-8)

Amber (9) and I read this together before bed last night. At the beginning, right before his birthday, Cameron gets a package in the mail from his Grandma Susan, who always gives him the best presents. Unfortunately, when he finally gets to open it, it’s a sweater, “a truly terribly horrible sweater.” Amber said it actually wasn’t that bad, that it was pretty, but maybe better for a girl. Anyway, Cameron tries to ruin it, to get rid of it, but it keeps coming back. Finally, when his grandma comes to visit at Christmas, she tells him about knitting the sweater and why she picked the colors she did.

Suddenly the sweater didn’t look truly, terribly horrible anymore.

It looked good. It looked like something Cameron would be proud to wear.

It was a sweet little story that we both enjoyed. I think kids could definitely relate to getting a present that hate but have to pretend to like. It also shows how special a handmade gift can be, but the most important message was how much Cameron’s grandma loved him, even though she lived far away.

The illustrations were pretty and kind of soft. They weren’t outstanding, but I did like the picture of Grandma arriving at the train station.

I don’t knit, but the back of the book did have some instructions for kids on how to knit and the directions for knitting a truly terribly wonderful sweater.Our copy was borrowed from the library and the above is my honest opinion. I am an Amazon associate.

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