LUCY AND THE STRING

A long red string becomes the tie that joyously binds.

With much effort, a girl pulls on a long red string, and the results are not what she expected, for at the other end is Hank, a grouchy bear who has now lost his red knit pants. Lucy is an imaginative child and tries very hard to cheer up the bear. She swirls, curls, designs, and dons a series of head ornaments from the red thread but to no avail. Hank “just wanted pants.” Lucy goes back to work and energetically strings a makeshift coverup or two or three for the bear, who nevertheless remains “a bare bear.” Neither is a tutu satisfactory. Finally, Lucy pulls out her knitting needles and creates an oversized sweater for herself and gifts her own black-and-white–striped skirt to a now happy and no longer bare bear. Unfortunately, snipping the yarn that now connects them leads to great unhappiness for Hank, but Lucy is ever resourceful and concocts a perfect solution for the now-good friends. Roeder uses pencils, watercolors, and “lots of digital string” in a palette of red, black, and white to create an imaginative and entertaining tale of crafting and friendship. Lucy is pale-skinned, with a gap-toothed and smiling face adorned with black spiky pigtails.

Dressing up and some cross-dressing result in a happy relationship for a girl and a bear.