A Lost Kite

In wordless, phantasmagoric panels and spreads, Young (The Flying Light) imagines a world of strangely blooming tropical trees, jellyfish-like flying vehicles, and creatures with beaked noses and glistening eyes. A child with light skin and dark hair travels about in a modest house built on the back of a large flying fish. When the child is found sadly painting a blue kite on the floor of a room, a kindly birdlike creature offers to help, pointing out another blue kite flying in the distance. Adventures follow as the creature introduces the child to a separate gathering of beings for whom the creation of a new kite is a simple feat—but who seem to envision the object as a weapon, launching it from a small, plant-like tank. The child next travels on a two-legged creature, then in a tentacled spacecraft tucked under another being’s wing. Though the bustling tale’s quick-moving storytelling turns remain ambiguous throughout, the inventiveness of Young’s forms, dreamy and sinuous, fires the imagination. Ages 3–7. (Nov.)