KEEP ROLLING!

Litwin’s Nut family is back (The Nuts, 2015), this time lamenting their diminutive size.

Poor Hazel and Wally. They are tired of being tiny. But how can they get bigger quickly? By rolling in the mud, of course! They launch themselves down a mucky hill, and with each revolution a new layer of mud sticks to them, creating a larger and larger shell. A song accompanies the prescribed action: “KEEP ROLLING. / KEEP ROLLING. / KEEP ROLLING.” (It’s easy to imagine listeners getting into the action here.) They roll until they are the size of cats. Magoon’s digital muck glops on thick, with strategically placed twigs and leaves to represent whiskers and eyes. But, “Oh, No!” A pack of dogs comes over the hill. Wally and Hazel had better…“KEEP ROLLING. / KEEP ROLLING. / KEEP ROLLING.” When the two nuts are the size of dogs, they fear the (white) dogcatcher. Then they are the size of elephants, but a (brown-skinned) zookeeper joins the chase. Luckily, in a solution similar to a certain cat with colored shoes, water saves the day. The two nuts roll home.

With repetitive refrains and plenty of mud, it’s hard to go wrong—but the message is a bit murky.