SALLY AND THE PURPLE SOCKS

With a pared-down text and artfully minimalist illustrations in spring green and purple, Bechtold tells the imaginative tale of a magical pair of socks ordered from a catalog by a duck named Sally. The purple socks come with a note saying that they will grow to the correct size. At first the socks are too small, and then just the right fit, but soon they begin growing at an exponential rate. The socks serve as a cap and scarf, curtains, blankets and finally as a carpet that grows right out the window, blocking traffic. The innovative duck moves her enormous socks into her backyard, where they become a circus tent for a neighborhood show. A rainstorm shrinks the socks back down to size, so that Sally can wear them once again as she sits by her fire reading a catalog featuring...more socks. Perfectly in tune with the young child’s uncanny ability to find wonder in the most quotidian of objects, Sally’s quirky story will delight. (Picture book. 3-5)