TO KNIT A GHOST

Asterplume and Lee give a whole new meaning to the idea of “casting” a spell.

“Knitting a ghost is easy,” this story’s unseen narrator claims. “Easy” turns out to be relative. A pale-skinned, white-haired, youthful witch has needles and a book called Knitting for Little Witches to guide every stitch. Trouble is, there’s so much to prepare beforehand. One needs tea, a cat, and some mood lighting. Then comes a bath and perhaps pie and ice cream. With vibes akin to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985), the book makes it clear that this witch is avoiding the inevitable. Meanwhile, ghosts are conjured up out of everything from melted ice cream and steam to the very tears from the witch’s eyes. When at last our protagonist casts on, even then there are dropped stitches and a need to unravel and knit again. The narrator notes that trying can mean difficult—but it also means “not stopping.” By the end, we have a fantastic knitted ghost at hand and, even better, backmatter showing how to cast on and knit, with a pattern for knitting a ghost of one’s own. Frustration oft proves knitting’s greatest foe; let this book provide instructions for combating it head-on. Lee adroitly mixes gouache and crayon with images of actual three-dimensional yarn.

Sweet and playful, imbued with a heady message about perseverance in the face of vexation.