Up Above and Down Below

Redding, a British graphic designer making her children's book debut, compares the action above and below ground in a wide range of lively settings (a theatre, the ocean, a neighborhood). She splits each digitally rendered spread horizontally down the middle; the jam-packed goings-on in each half play off of one another. Some scenes are rooted in the real world: as passengers on an excursion ship ""enjoy a cruise around the bay,"" their leisurely attitudes contrast with the smartly outfitted and clearly conscientious crew below, portrayed swabbing the floor, checking instruments and generally ""working hard throughout the day."" Other pairings, however, emit a good-hearted silliness. ""Golfers play with golf balls. Gophers do, too,"" Redding writes. ""But they play with them differently than you and I do!"" Below the greens, a team of rodents recycles duffers' balls with the help of a Rube Goldberg-esque conveyor belt. Redding's stylized work brings to mind the cartoons turned out by the old Max Fleischer studios; she employs a cast of google-eyed characters, and displays a fondness for using manic graphic patterns and diagrammatic layouts. Ages 3-up.