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LEAP by Campbell Manning

LEAP

by Campbell Manning ; illustrated by Nadia Ronquilllo

Pub Date: Oct. 18th, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4867-0948-9
Publisher: Flowerpot Press

A cocky lad announces his intention to jump from the moon down to Earth.

In the rhyming text, the plan comes off more as a quick publicity stunt than a pep talk on the value of aiming high in life: “But I’ll show them. / I know I can! / Soon they’ll all see / that I’m THE MAN!” It starts with a few vague preparations and a jaunt to the moon (aboard, according to the blurry cartoon illustrations, a magically converted toy truck), then concludes with the titular leap and parachuting down through the Earth’s atmosphere into the arms of a cheering crowd. Said crowd displays a pale but inclusive mix of skin tones in the penultimate scene; the narrator himself is a nerdy white child of indeterminate age who sports huge spectacles and a fixed, open-mouthed grin throughout. Young audiences will have no trouble finding encouragement to fix their eyes on worthier prizes elsewhere. Fittingly, the arrival of lunch at the end shoves this project onto the back burner.

Converting such a flimsy ambition into any worthy goal would require a mighty leap of imagination indeed.

(Picture book. 6-8)