Cassi Eubank

One little Christmas sweater decided to write a diary about her journey from the factory to her forever home. Along the way she learns a lot about friends, family, and the power of positive thinking. Like the sweater, this book is more then it seems it is filled with great tips for motivation, positive, thinking, self-worth, love, forgiveness, dreams, and family. A big theme throughout this book is the importance of loving yourself for who you are no matter what others think of you. Some readers may be weirded out by the narrator being a talking sweater, but sometimes people do not listen to others when they try to teach them life lessons and this author found an ingenious way of making learning about yourself fun. I would highly recommend this book to everyone it is a wonderful heartfelt tale told in a very imaginative way.

… (plus d'informations)

I have read books from many different perspectives. This is the first time I’ve read a book told from the perspective of a sweater. That made this book very interesting. Sophie is the sweater’s name and she is a Christmas sweater. Her story is told in diary form. The beginning is charming. She describes her family as the “Tree with Pom Balls” family. She is a sweater with a Christmas tree on the front and pom poms that decorate it like ornaments. She refers to other sweater families such as the “Santa Sitting on the Toilet” family. From the different “families” she mentions you get the idea of what each sweater looks like. She addresses issues such as judging others based on looks, attitudes, how to get what you want out of life. This is a unique way to teach life lessons. The story is charming and the lessons are subtle enough not to detract from the story. It is so well written that you can feel the emotions throughout the story. This is a book that is for young and old alike. I don’t think I will ever look at an “ugly” sweater the same way again, and never without thinking about this story. This is the perfect read for the Christmas season.… (plus d'informations)

There is not enough stars to rate this book in my opinion. This book is great for all ages child to adult. Many adults experience exactly what Sophie experiences in their jobs, life, and society. The book keeps the reader totally engaged and the reader can relate to Sophie and all she goes through good and bad. Every single person deals with being accepted, having enough confidence in all situations, jealousy, family situations and the ups and downs of life. I think this book is especially a book needed for all young adults and adults and children with special needs, who deal with the same situations that Sophie does dealing with acceptance for who they are. The book is easy to understand and is constantly teaching a valuable life lesson in this most interesting story of Sophie's life, and I think anyone who doesn't have it, in their book collection is really missing out. It is the kind of book you can read multiple times and learn something new each time you read it. There is not another book like it, I have ever read, with as much character. You laugh with the character of Sophie and you cry with her. As the book is finished the reader will long for more stories about Sophie, as it is such as a great story, the reader doesn't want it to end. I would love to see this book on book lists for schools and in book reading clubs.… (plus d'informations)

I received this book to review in exchange for an honest review. This in no way had any impact on the review.

When I first received the email to review this book, I almost deleted it before I looked over at my daughter and thought: ‘okay, it’s a kids book. I have a kid now, lets go ahead and give this a shot’. I know the earlier you start reading to kids the better, but the books that reside on my shelves aren’t really ‘kid material’ and while I have a few I have started reading to her (Harry Potter, The Series of Unfortunate Events), this one looked like it would be an interesting Christmas story. I didn’t read anything about the book other than skim over the blurb given with the book name and author name so I assumed when it arrived it would be a book written for younger kids and it would be one of those that had the hard covers. I was in for a shock when I arrived as a paperback, chapter book with a total of 198 glorious pages.

My next complete shock was when I realized the book was told from the perspective of the sweater herself. Her name is Sophie and had I done more than skim the blurb, this wouldn’t have shocked me at all. However from the very first sentence in this novel, I was hopelessly drug into the story and I found myself relating to a sweater in ways I never really thought that I would (haha, never thought I would say that either). You see, normally I avoid nonhuman characters (unless they are young kid books) and I attempt to avoid first person point-of-view stories too (though I think they are growing on me). I read this entire book and had to go back and see what point-of-view it was written in, I was that engrossed with story itself.

Anyways, Sophie goes through so much in the month of December and she writes down the events of her life daily. She is examined often, she gets to be a model and she even gets separated from her family. Through all the devastation and numerous disappoints, Sophie struggles with her thoughts and her mindset. She learns to persevere through it all with the help of her “framily” and she learns ways to help stay happy.

I believe that this book was meant to come across my path, I have been having issues with a lot of things here lately and this novel has helped me in so many ways. I read it on May 27th, 2015 in one day. I didn’t get to finish it in one sitting, but I did often read out loud to my daughter as I cuddled her or fed her. Diary of an Ugly Sweater is a heart warming novel that is meant for all ages, it will help adults just as well as it will help children. I loved the fact that you felt just about every emotion while reading this book.

I took a lot away from this book as far as lessons go and it’s currently housed on my shelf with all my favorite books. I will cherish it and love it for as long as I live. I give it five out of five stars, because I adored it and because I related to it in so many ways that it made it extraordinarily hard to to feel as if it were speaking to me. In parts, if even felt like it had been written for me. There are so many pages I have marked with post-it notes that it was hard for me to pick just one thing to quote from the book, but being the constant worry worm that I am, I choose this one:

“So why worry about something that will probably never happen? Why not enjoy your life and think about all the stuff that makes you feel good?” ~Cassi Eubank

If you enjoy a good story, if you are feel down and depressed, if you are worried about anything or if you are like me and are a bit pessimistic (I am really trying to change this) then please, pick up this book and read it. I can honestly promise you that you will love it and you will not regret it. I just wish it had been written sooner.

Ps; This book fills the slot of nonhuman characters in the 2015 Reading Challenge.… (plus d'informations)