Smelly Socks
Written by: Robert Munsch
Illustrated by: Michael Martchenko
Scholastic $6.99
Recommended for ages 4-8

This story will really hit home for those of us who have a child who insists on wearing a particular garment over and over and over again. No matter how you rationalize it washing a pair of pants is just not necessary when they are your ‘favourite jeans’.

In Robert Munsch’s latest story, Tina decides she needs a new pair of socks and concocts a plan for her and her grandfather to row their boat across the river to the big sock store in the city. After finding the perfect pair they row home to show Tina’s mother what they purchased.

Days go by and still Tina will not allow her mother to wash her ‘special’ socks. After thirty days of wearing them the socks really begin to hum. Despite teasing from her classmates and animals falling ill from the smell, Tina stands her ground.

Finally she is overtaken by her friends when they physically remove her from her home and take her to the river to wash the socks.

As with other Munsch favourites, the main character here is independent and headstrong. Martchenko’s comical illustrations definitely add to the humour of the story. The gas masks and clothes-pinned noses of Tina’s friends will have even the youngest readers chuckling out loud.