August 13, 2012
“Louis and his big sister Sarah were out in the woods one day... when unfortunately... Louis was eaten up by Gulper.” Far from afraid, Sarah springs into action, chasing after the furry, egg-shaped monster on her bicycle. But just as she’s about to catch the Gulper, it’s eaten by a black, winged Grabular, which is in turn gobbled up by an Undersnatch, a giant tadpole-like creature. The hilariously preposterous chase unfolds quickly in Fardell’s panel illustrations, and Sarah shows bravery, ingenuity, and determination every step of the way: she reconfigures her bike again and again, outfitting it with a paddlewheel to traverse the sea and spidery legs to climb some Seussian rock formations. Thus, it’s especially disappointing that Fardell (Jeremiah Jellyfish Flies High) relies on an amphibia ex machina resolution, which takes the form of a “Hiccup Frog” that causes the creatures gastrointestinal distress. Fardell gives Louis a moment to shine, too, and it’s clear he’s as nonchalantly brave as his sister—when she crawls through multiple stomachs to rescue him, he’s hanging out reading comic books. Ages 4–9.
September 1, 2012
PreS-Gr 1-Louis and his sister find themselves deep inside the stomach of a Saber-toothed Yumper when a leisurely bike ride through the woods turns into a monstrous chase into prehistoric lands. After Louis is swallowed by a Gulper, Sarah sets off to rescue him, but each creature that consumes him is set upon by a larger one, and the chase is on. Finally, she must crawl into the stomach of the Saber-toothed Yumper and, flashlight in hand, wind her way through the insides of all the other beasts to retrieve her brother. Although the situation resolves itself when the creature feels a real "frog in its throat," the siblings are not free to return home until one of them finds a more vocal way to scare away the still-hungry Guzzler, Grabular, Undersnatch, and Gulper. Fardell cleverly morphs verbs into the names of the monsters chasing Louis and a two-wheeled bicycle into a machine capable of floating, rock climbing, and flight. The antics are over-the-top, and the creatures are more funny than scary, making this picture book a natural for storytime fun.-Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada
Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2012
A cumulative tale of gathering potency that riffs on Jonah and the Whale. The first page of this tale is a dodge: A young boy with goo-goo eyes scooters off with his sister for a day in the forest near their idyllic woodland cottage. Yawn--apparently. The pen-and-ink drawing is pretty nifty, so it doesn't hurt to move ahead anyway. And that is for the best, as goo-goo eyes gets eaten by a Gulper. His sister, taking umbrage, gives chase, but before she can reach the Gulper, it is eaten by a Grabular. So it goes, with the sister in pursuit--on evermore inventive contraptions--and each crazy creature being devoured by a yet crazier one. The sister gets the Saber-toothed Yumper in the end, forcing it to disgorge all its stomach's contents, including the goo-goo-eyed brother, who turns out to be a tough dude after all. Things could be said here about the importance of persistence and the glories of sisters, all being true, but it might be best to see this book as a clever eye-catcher with a nicely tied-up story--there's nothing at all wrong with that. A very merry, lighthearted entanglement. (Picture book. 4-9)
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January 1, 2013
While out in the woods, Louis is swallowed by a Gulper, who's swallowed by a Grabular, and so on until Louis's sister Sarah must resort to the big guns: a Hiccup Frog. Although the very end fizzles, the journey is thrilling. Unforgettable is the cross section showing Sarah crawling inside the concentrically nested creatures, all of whose names are "Jabberwocky"-worthy.
(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)