Pages

Friday, January 16, 2009

Dot in Larryland - The Big Book of an Odd-Sized Friendship





Patricia Marx; Illustrated by Roz Chast

Bloomsbury Children's Books

Written by a former Saturday Night Live writer, this book is every bit as quirky as you might expect. In fact, Larry bears a moderate resemblance to Will Ferrell ....

Dot in Larryland is the story of a highly unlikely friendship. Actually, before that happens, it is first the story of two unusual but likable people. Dot is so teeny-tiny that she must be indexed on "The Chart of Tinies" just to be seen by the readers. Larry is taller than a two story house and chats with the clouds. The size difference between these two people is so vast - how can they possibly meet?

This book zips along on a crazy path, with bold colors and zany patterns. Made up words are common - zot, krot, flajillion, milli-micro, squintillion and glot all make an appearance. In addition to the written story line, the characters (including inanimate objects) also add their own comments via word bubbles.

I like that she also introduces some words you don't typically see in children's books, such as clambered, endeavor, greetings, kvetch and paramecium. The illustrations are almost cartoon like, drawn in varying sizes with bursts of color.

The end result of all this craziness is a fun book with a lot of action on every page. This book is guaranteed to be loved by children, and offers enough humor to keep most adults equally entertained.
 

Blog Template by YummyLolly.com