THEY CAME FROM AARGH!

They came from Aargh! They came from Ugh! They came from beyond the galaxy. All of them were alien, all of them were strange. Their ship was strange and alien, it had twelve legs. Their battle cry was, 'Three chairs for Aargh! Three chairs for Ugh!'" So three little boys, one just a baby, pretend to be aliens from space, with flowerpot, funnel, and colander for headgear and three kitchen chairs for their ship. Their mother goes along with the game as she gives them lunch of omelets ("then you can have your chocolate cake") and sees them off again to Aargh and Ugh. This could be the outline of another fiat, faithful account of everyday play, but Hoban projects it from inside the fantasy and brightens it up with lots of nonsensical space-science word play. Searching for chocolate cake on alien earth, "they had their bimblers ready, they had their globsters on as well, they had their cake beam going." Later seeing the cat, "Blub" radios to base: "Asymmetrical shock horror, fond of milk, purrs." Not every picture-book audience will take "asymmetrical" in stride or keep up with the brisk patter, but this is lively enough to carry kids who've been exposed to space games in any media.a