KIRKUS REVIEW
You’ve heard of Typhoid Mary. Well, meet Felicity Floo, a snot-ridden little plague child elegantly (in a nauseating way) drawn by newcomer Redmond. Felicity’s nose is running, but that doesn’t keep her from visiting the zoo and visiting upon its inhabitants the product of her sniffles, which coats her hands after a good nose swipe. Felicity Floo hasn’t a clue about that thing called a tissue. Readers watch as she makes her progress through the zoo, leaving a trail of gunky-green handprints upon the beasts. The rhyming couplets have an easy music and simply chart Felicity’s encounters with “flamingoes and toucans and owls that flew, / …a blue-footed booby and rare jabiru.” The cautionary tale here hardly lurks, but it’s not out waving an admonitory finger either; the medium of this message is gross fun. The watercolors are subdued, though occasionally flashing deep red, purple and orange; the line work is delicate. The animals’ faces are hugely expressive, shocked and dismayed. Then there’s Felicity, with sunken eyes and red beezer, whom you don’t have to like to enjoy. (Picture book. 2-5)
