Judy Ann Sadler & Élodie Duhameau
Written by Judy Ann Sadler Illustrated by Élodie Duhameau
Owlkids Books
Everything is ready,
there’s nothing left to do. Grandma says, to fill the time, let’s sit and knit and wait.
Gran picks up her needles, I go get my spool— then side by side we settle down to sit and knit and wait.
We sit and rock and knit and rock and sit and knit and wait.
I pull the yarn . . . it snags and jumps! Duke pounces, I chase! Duke bounds, we race!
We tumble and tangle till Gran sorts us out.
Then—again—we sit and knit and wait.
We check the time (it’s very slow). We sit and knit and wait.
We have a snack, give Duke a pat, doze off, wake up—
We shake our arms and stretch them wide,
get up and pace and look outside,
then sit and rock and knit and rock and sit and knit and wait.
We hear the clock, ticktock, ticktock, and sit and knit and wait.
Soon? I ask. Yes, says Gran. When? I ask. Soon, says Gran.
I want to run around the room! I CAN’T just sit, I CAN’T just knit.
I really CANNOT WAIT!
Let’s sing, says Gran. Breathe nice and deep! We stand and sing, we dance and swing,
then once again, we sit and knit and wait.
We sit and sit and knit and knit and
wait and wait and wait.
It can’t be long, it must be time, still sit and knit and—
Did you hear that, Gran?
I let out a
Throw open the door—
Dad scoops me up, Mom kisses my cheek, and I lean over to take my first peek.
Baby’s so little . . . teeny fingers, tiny nose, head bare, eyes closed—
WAIT! Head bare?
I go grab our gift and hand it to Mom. It’s lovely, she says. Did you knit it today? She gives me a hug. Gran helped, I say.
It’s a little bit big, but that’s good, says Dad. Babies grow fast, so they need lots of hats!
Yay! I say. We’ll knit hats galore! But right now, I’m happy to sit and not knit and not wait anymore.
To Astrid and Cade. Absolutely worth waiting for! — J.A.S. To my grandmother Madeleine, with whom I spent hours drawing while she knitted. The sound of the needles and the agility of her flying fingers have always fascinated me — É.D. Text © 2022 Judy Ann Sadler Illustrations © 2022 Élodie Duhameau All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Owlkids Books Inc., or in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll-free to 1-800-893-5777. Owlkids Books acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Creates Book Initiative for our publishing activities. Published in Canada by Owlkids Books Inc. 1 Eglinton Avenue East Toronto, ON M4P 3A1
Published in the United States by Owlkids Books Inc. 1700 Fourth Street Berkeley, CA 94710
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Title: While we wait / Judy Ann Sadler & Élodie Duhameau. Names: Sadler, Judy Ann, 1959- author. | Duhameau, Elodie, 1983- illustrator. Identifiers: Canadiana 20210228830 | ISBN 9781771474405 (hardcover) Classification: LCC PS8587.A2394 W55 2022 | DDC jC813/.6—dc23 Library of Congress Control Number: 2021939905 Edited by Debbie Rogosin Designed by Diane Robertson The illustrations in this book were sketched with pencil and paper and rendered with a mix of digital tools. Manufactured in Guangdong Province, Dongguan City, China, in September 2021, by Toppan Leefung Job #BAYDC98 A B C D E F
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