What could be sunnier than Pepperland, where the colors shine and shimmer and music is always in the air? But the Chief Blue Meanie didn’t have a song, and sent The Glove out to make everything go “blu-ey.” Pepperland is rescued by John, Paul, George, and Ringo, and the Nowhere Man, in their Yellow Submarine, after great adventures beneath the waves, in a sea of monsters (pretty tame, odd socks and floral patterns) and holes (a great and glorious pattern of same). The Glove is defeated by song and the Blue Meanie by flowers. The tale is full of puns and wordplay, as fresh now as when it first was sung by the Beatles 35 years ago. For many, this text is overlaid with accretions of memory and desire, but the effort to shake that off and read it as a bouncy and affectionate foray into a land of words tossed like juggler’s balls and the redemptive power of song is amply repaid. The delirious color and the shape-shifting figures offer delight on every page. Love is all you need. (Picture book. 4-8)
