PANDASTIC TIMES

In Naj’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl explores a world cursed by a witch.

This illustrated story for young readers is a Covid-19 allegory clothed in the trappings of a sweet fairy tale concerning Mr. and Mrs. Whistlegood, a mild-mannered couple who live in a Victorian house and are dismayed when the arrival of a pandemic forces them to hunker down and shelter inside their home. Their bad news is very good news for Mr. and Mrs. Coon, the raccoon couple who live in a den deep underneath the Whistlegood household. Mr. Coon “goes snooping and catches snippets of his upstairs neighbors’ conversation,” and he realizes that the Whistlegoods’ confinement will mean he can move freely through their now-overlooked flower beds and vegetable gardens. Mr. Coon listens in as the Whistlegoods speak to their 13-year-old daughter, Cathrin, about the pandemic, which they describe as a spell laid upon the world by the Purple Witch, who lives in a cave in a faraway jungle and only rarely visits Earth to cause havoc. Cathrin is curious and wants to know why the Purple Witch is so angry at humanity. The girl displays more compassion than her parents do; she feels nothing but friendship for the wild animals like Mr. Coon who live around the house, whereas her mother is far less charitable (“I would like to grab him by his whiskers,” she says, “and swing him round and round and toss him back to the Faraway Jungle where he comes from”).

Cathrin’s open-minded curiosity is the springboard for Naj’s broad and increasingly whimsical tale, in which the young girl and Mr. Coon (and other animals) journey separately to New York City, where they explore the sprawl of Central Park. Cathrin meets more colorful characters at the Marvelous Fulfillment Company, including a stunning android named Ms. Roxy, who appreciates the warmth of Cathrin’s worldview. “Not many humans think like you,” she tells Cathrin, “that animals have the same right to life as us.” Ms. Roxy is a remote-operated drone transformed into human shape; the real-world parallel to the Marvelous Fulfillment Company is obvious; and the characters find New York City all but deserted (“It’s the best time to buy property,” one person tells them. “People are leaving the city, scared of the Witch. You can pick up some good bargains”). These and many other details are skillfully combined into a protracted allegory for the Covid-19 pandemic at its 2020 height. Naj complicates this conceit with unexpected and deftly woven narrative threads introducing tensions between Cathrin and her parents (her father in particular), but it’s the many echoes of the pandemic—from the isolation to allusions to a Wild Market—that will strike older readers the hardest. Younger readers, who are the book’s clear target audience (those older readers will probably feel that the allegory is stretched over too many pages), will find it a funny and adventure-filled fantasy version of the strange lockdown experiences they remember.

A textured and inventive fantasia inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic.