LUCKY LAZLO

Lazlo is in love with an actress playing Alice, and thus his adventure into the wonderful world of theater begins.

Wanting to surprise his ladylove on the opening night of her play, Lazlo buys her a red rose that is quickly stolen by a mischievous cat, who leads Lazlo on a merry chase through the underbelly of the theater and eventually onto the stage itself. Brown-skinned Lazlo's amorous feelings manifest themselves in both his beaming smile and in his bright coloring, which sets him apart from the black-and-white cityscape he traipses through as beautifully as Technicolor separated Dorothy's journey through Munchkinland from dreary Kansas farm life in the 1939 Wizard of Oz. While love brings color to Lazlo’s cheeks, for readers, Light’s intricately inked city and theater spreads resurrect a bygone pre-television era when plays and children’s books were primary sources of wonder and bringers of magic in people’s lives. Featuring a racially diverse cast of characters and an interracial romance, this charming picture book acquaints (or reacquaints) readers with the elements of Lewis Carroll's classic while also taking them on a delightfully zany theatrical romp that only someone in love could inspire.

The title indicates that Lazlo is lucky, but readers of this delightful book will undoubtedly feel that they are really the lucky ones.