Tumblebaby

Rex (Oh No, the Aunts Are Here) lets his storytelling powers rip in a tale whose gleeful surrealism seems to draw on Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories among other tales of the American West. Tumblebaby, painted by Weber (The Wind and the Clover) in acrylic and gouache as a round, sleeping form wearing a purple onesie, floats and tumbles out of the house and into the path of two scoundrels who plot a kidnapping (“Free baby,” one notes). Before they know it, Tumblebaby’s innocent movements knock the duo into a puddle of mud, the first in a run of victories memorialized in verse: “Tumblebaby,/ fumblebaby,/ get ’em in a fuddle,/ muddy in a muddle/ in the middle/ of a puddle.” Soon, Tumblebaby gracefully defeats two coyotes and becomes the captain of a pack that travels about “doing good and making things right.” Tumblebaby next rolls through western U.S. landscapes, floating at the head of a line of coyotes, until tumbling home, “covered with stickers from various hotels and attractions.” Amid a fantastical, intentionally meandering plotline that embraces going where the wind blows, the story’s gonzo energy hurtles forward like a train. Human characters are portrayed with largely fanciful skin tones. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (Oct.)