Hodges retells Swift's story of Lemuel Gulliver's strange run in with Lilliputians and the people of Blefuscu in a curious deadpan. The effect is not an emulation of some late-17th-century English reserve, but a distancing of readers from the action, making it almost impossible for them to get behind any of the characters. Gulliver is a dullard (``I was tempted to seize forty or fifty of them...but I remembered that I had promised to obey them''), the Lilliputians resentful, the folk of Blefuscu mere bit players. Still and all, this is Swift, and the tale muscles through the less-than-inspired handling. Look then to the artwork to provide the most entertaining contribution. Pulling yeoman's duty to keep things from foundering are Root's pleasing illustrations, with their smoky color and old feel, the fine linework done in crabbed hand. Details of the story appear in spot illustrations placed at impeccably timed intervals across the page of text. These act to highlight comedic moments and guarantee that accomplished readers will find the Swift behind the rendering. (Picture book. 7- 11)
