LOST IN BERMOODA

In the cow paradise of Bermooda the only things to fear are the legendary monsters known as hu’mans.

Chuck is bored, so bored that for excitement he is willing to explore the Boneyard, site of the crash 300 years ago of the HMS Hortica, which brought cows to Bermooda. (In Bermooda, “cow” does not appear to be a gendered term.) There, Chuck rescues a strange creature floating on an orange ring…and it turns out to be a hu’man, only without the claws, teeth and fire breath Chuck’s been told to expect. Chuck befriends Dakota and promises to get him back to his family. The duo make a cow suit that, astonishingly, fools everyone into believing Dakota is a cow. None of Chuck’s ideas to get Dakota home work, but in the planning, they discover a puzzling mystery that comes to a head at the Boomflower Festival. Can they solve it and keep Dakota’s identity a secret? Litwin’s light tale of friendship is full of Hawaii-inspired cow puns and reads like the intro to a series, since it introduces a large cast of characters, few of whom get to do much. Chuck and Dakota are nicely rounded characters, and the promised illustrations look to be endearingly cartoony.

New-to-chapters readers will gladly join the herd and say “Lo’hai” (hello) to Bermooda and its denizens.