Title: The Day that A Ran Away
Author: B.C.R. Fegan
Illustrator: Lenny Wen
After their adorable Henry and the Hidden Treasure, author and illustrator B.C.R. Fegan and Lenny Wen are at it again--serving up an imaginative, quirky little adventure sure to delight both children and parents. It delighted me, and I'm a fully functioning adult (maybe).
On the story's first page, young Jet faces a common dilemma: he hasn't completed his homework assignment.
Or wait--he has! But no sooner had he finished writing out the alphabet in his school notebook then (gasp) the letter A ran away!
From there we launch into Jet's high-flown (and fully rhyming, naturally) explanation of what happened to all the letters he wrote down in his notebook. One can only imagine his teacher, Mrs. May, listening with increasing incredulity, but Jet, not one to be deterred, gets through the whole alphabet before Mrs. May gives her verdict.
I got about halfway through this delightful picture book before I realized that each page features a number of objects starting with that particular letter. Also, each letter resembles something that starts with it, so to give you an idea: V is a volcano, K is a king, and M is an adorable furry monster. Then, of course, I had to start over from the beginning and find all the Easter eggs on each page.
As a kid, I loved books like that (and apparently I still do), so I can only imagine how much fun younger readers will have searching for all the hidden objects on each page--and I'm sure they'll laugh at the whimsical appearances of Jet's rogue letters.
I'll let you find out for yourself whether or not Jet's incredible story wins points with Mrs. May, but this simple, quirky story definitely won points with me. If Jet can just manage to keep his letters on the page for once, I think he's got a promising future as a writer.
Until tomorrow.
Until tomorrow.
