W
himsy abounds in this jolly jumble of words and images, guaranteed to grab kids’ attention and ignite their imaginations. Featuring ample onomatopoeia, alliteration and jaunty rhyme, Varela’s (Palmers Gate
) narrative introduces Professor Ludwig von Glink, who sets out to invent a perpetual motion machine. Though his elaborate “Gizmo” doesn’t move for long, before it runs out of steam it produces “sounds of clanging and banging, and pinging and ringing, that were not entirely unpleasant, as well as tingly, tangly twitterings reminiscent of the call of the ring-necked pheasant.” Undaunted, the cheerful prof decides to “work up some specs and see if I can make this mingle-mangle of intricate jury-rigged gimcrackery yet more complex. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that’d add to the merriment.” Adding a great deal to the merriment, Briant’s (Seven Stories
) bustling, comical art reveals the inventor, his wife and five children using a variety of gears, springs, toys, musical instruments and whatnot to create an ever-expanding contraption that eventually takes over the house, attracting a gaggle of ogling tourists. Alas, the city building inspector determines that the contraption has no practical purpose; “deeply offended by the pointless contraption, [he] concluded that the whole kaboodle must be on the verge of collapsion.” But the director of the contemporary art museum lobbies to save the structure (which is, after all, “a case of art for art’s sake”) from demolition and it becomes an annex to the museum, making everyone—including young readers—quite content. Ages 4-8. (May)
