Oxford University Press ISBN 9780192747846 £6.99
Zip, Bling, Puzzle and Baby are four knitted creatures who live in a knitted house in a park. On waking one day, Baby Woolly is captivated by a set of strange footprints. He and Zip decide to follow, but first they engage in what Woollies do best: ‘imagi-knitting’. They can create anything they like from wool. In this case they choose to create their own monster feet to make footprints themselves. Puzzle and Blng, convinced the other two have been captured by monsters, engage in some pretty awesome imagi-knitting themselves to equip themselves for pursuit. Fortunately, the answer is much more prosaic than they feared and the friends are reunited safely. I am not sure about this picture book. There has been a resurgence in knitting over recent years and the idea of small woollen characters being able to create any contraption they can imagine – in wool – is, I suppose, engaging and amusing. The CGI artwork is certainly tremendous and creates a truly 3D effect, so that these creations live in the round. I’m just not sure that I find them appealing or the storyline particularly interesting. 3 to 5 year olds will probably like the idea of following footprints, but the plot does not develop much further. Also, what happened to the digger when the monster-catcher arrived? Are things ‘unimagined’ when not needed? I wasn’t clear.
Sue Barrett, retired teacher and lecturer