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BEN’S BIG DIG by Daniel Wakeman

BEN’S BIG DIG

by Daniel Wakeman & illustrated by Dirk van Stralen

Pub Date: Oct. 15th, 2005
ISBN: 1-55143-384-2
Publisher: Orca

When Ben digs, he digs big. He may not get to China, but his attempt is spectacular nonetheless. This wordless picture book uses digitized cartoon illustrations in sequential panels to tell the story of Ben’s overnight with his pie-obsessed Grandma. When a curious investigation of the room produces a shovel and a miner’s hat, what choice does he have but to dig? The regular panels of the exposition give way to a more creative layout, diagonal lines and deep blues lending energy and mystery to Ben’s midnight adventure. Perspectives vary, engaging the reader in a visual game. One fabulous spread, repeated in reverse later, asks readers to turn the book, the landscape orientation yielding to a tall cross-section in which Ben’s tunnel snakes down through the archaeological strata. When he accidentally hits water, all seems to be lost—but a quick-thinking Grandma puts her pies to use to save the day. It’s a fey, original work, laden with details that will keep kids poring over it, the completely childlike logic of the concept having inevitably drawn them in. (Picture book. 5-10)