A king and queen, the happy rulers of “a pleasant land,” can’t have children, so one night the king goes to the royal inventor, who builds him a “wonderful, intricate little wooden robot,” while at the same time the queen goes to a clever witch, who brings to life “a perfect little log princess.”
All is good, but the princess has a secret—when she falls asleep at night, she turns back into a log, only to awaken if the magic words are spoken. The robot says the magic words every day, until the morning a circus comes to town and, in his haste to see it, the robot forgets to wake his sister. A maid sees the “plain old log, lying in the princess’s bed” and tosses it out of the window! It promptly rolls down a hill to the village, gets picked up by a log-collecting goblin, and put on a barge. The robot searches for his log sister while the barge sails for the frozen North. Adventures of many kinds ensue, as the devoted robot tries to do the best that he can for the princess, who in turn does the same for him. With some help from a family of beetles, a mouse, a bird, a rabbit, a fox, and the clever old witch, they all mange to save the day.
This fairly tale feels both familiar and fresh at once. It’s got shades of William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, maybe crossed with The Toy Brother, but it should also appeal to fans of Barnett and Klassen’s are recent Extra Yarn. And anybody else who loves a good, earnest, creative picture book. The art certainly adds to the appeal. It feels like a graphic novel/picture book hybrid, with lots of fun details, fresh design, and very appealing soft-but-dynamic color palette.
Kids of all ages should love it!
--Lynn
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