Strange Planet: The Sneaking, Hiding, Vibrating Creature

Featuring the humanoid creatures and amusingly literal lexicon for which Pyle is widely known via Instagram, this addition to the Strange Planet oeuvre follows Lifegiver and Offspring, two family members intent on learning more about a creature in their home. On a bright pink background, the two wide-eyed blue beings plan to observe a creature—“covered in thousands of soft fibers” whose “mouth stones are sharp”—that readers will recognize as a white cat. Equipped with “distant-observers” (binoculars) to view the entity and an “ink cylinder” (pen) to document their observations, the intrepid onlookers also plan to “use our bodies to mimic the creature” to learn “just how amazing” it is. After a long day of following and learning about the feline, including grasping takeaways such as “the creature can hide in tiny spaces” and “the creature vibrates when happy,” all three take a well-deserved “creature nap.” Pyle’s tidy comics style and limited color palette centers the deadpan vocabulary as much as the art, and humor directed at categorizing concepts and building observational skills is an added bonus for young readers. Back matter includes a visual vocabulary aid. Ages 4–8. [em](June) [/em]