Sea Cat’s mother knits. No one on land or sea knits more beautifully than she does. She sits down one day, with several balls of seaweed wool and interesting treasures from the sea, and knits and embroiders Sea Cat a ”closely fitting, elegantly tailored, wonderfully complicated, waterproof, decorative, scintillating catsuit…”
He looks great. Someone becomes jealous: someone really old and important and powerful. Knitting saves the day.
Besides the fact that the heroine of the story is a knitter, Sea Cat and Dragon King, by Angela Carter, is charming, clever, and sweetly illustrated. Every knitter should have a copy. Every son and daughter of a knitter should likewise have a copy.
To read it aloud takes about 45 minutes. I read it to my 3-year-old, Ella, when she was under the weather one day, and too tired to fidget. She was hooked, and since then we have read it many, many times. The pretty line drawings by illustrator Eva Tatcheva keep young eyes occupied, while their ears listen.
The language is beautiful; no word is wasted. The story moves well, with rich and amusing detail. I enjoy the book immensely, and I think anyone (even non-knitters) who loves a good story will like it.
There are a number of copies available at amazon.com. You can still get it in time for Christmas!