Deliciously funny and touching, Sylvia Plath’s three wonderfully fresh and original stories were originally written for her own children but remain as delightful as ever. The title story, in which Max gets the very special suit he has always craved, and also Mrs Cherry’s Kitchen and The Bed Book all have a timeless appeal. The addition of David Roberts’s witty and tender illustrations adds a delightful sparkle.
The it Doesn't Matter Suit and Other Stories Synopsis
Better known for her writings for adults, Plath’s timeless collection of stories for younger children is filled with joy an wit.
In the eponymous The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit, little Max Nix is on a quest to find the perfect suit he can go ice-fishing, cow-milking and town-walking in. Everyone else in his family thinks they want the suit, but they can’t help thinking of places they can’t wear the suit. There's magic and chaos afoot in Mrs Cherry's Kitchen as the kitchen utensils beg the resident elves to let them swap duties for the day. Finally, The Bed Book is a beautifully paced poem taking children through all the exciting alternatives to the bed they currently own.
Simple, sweet, and with lovely black and white illustrations from David Roberts, The It-Doesn’t-Matter Suit and Other Stories is a perfect choice for emerging readers of 5 years and up.
Sylvia Plath (1932-63) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. She published one collection of poems in her lifetime, The Colossus (1960), and a novel, The Bell Jar (1963). Her Collected Poems, which contains her poetry written from 1956 until her death, was published in 1981 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
