ZigZag

Paschkis (The Barking Ballad) plays with language and image in this sensory fantasy starring a word-swallowing alligator. ZigZag, rendered with a delicate ink filigree and calligraphically hatched scales, experiences words synesthetically: “Swivel was slippery and slightly sour,” while “Bulb had a thick, purple taste.” Though he’s previously partaken of vowel multiples, trouble arises when ZigZag encounters, and impulsively swallows, tambourine, “and all of the vowels—a, e, i, o, u—with it.” The protagonist’s linguistic world is suddenly reduced to consonants (“A tasteless, dull tmbrn was all that remained in his mouth”), and ZigZag must reassemble the vowels in order to reconstitute their use. Collecting an a from the “A-a-a-a-ah” his grandmother utters when he scratches her back, and an e from a rat’s “Squ-e-e-e-e-k,” he takes pleasure as words become available to him again (“He ate a tart apple and beamed”). Gracefully wrought flowers and fruit give each image the feel of a stately tableau in this perception-oriented picture book exploration of words. An author’s note concludes. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)