THE AMAZING AUGUSTUS

A boastful squirrel holds court.

As a woodland audience looks on, the Amazing Augustus makes a series of proclamations. “My ears capture every single sound. My nose twitches with each pleasing scent! My eyes miss nothing.” But is that true? Augustus’ audience knows it isn’t, and young readers will be in on the joke. Suddenly a lion shows up; the other animals dash off, but the oblivious Augustus mistakes the creature’s furry body for a mountain, grasslands, and dense forest. Uh-oh. Augustus quickly tries to wow the lion, but the beast pops the squirrel into his mouth, sending Augustus on a slippery ride into the lion’s stomach. There, our hero meets a new audience and introduces them to another one of his amazing talents—the ability to create indigestion. In the end, the inhabitants of the lion’s stomach are safe, and the woodland creatures are genuinely wowed. Even the lion is buying Amazing Augustus merch. Gregory’s digitally edited multimedia illustrations burst with color and humor in the details—Augustus being blown away in shock by a trumpeting elephant and recoiling in disgust from a skunk’s stench. Our protagonist’s misadventures become more vivid when readers are asked to rotate the book 90 degrees to climb the lion’s mountain and slide into the big cat’s stomach. The depictions of the lion’s discomfort and oversize burp are especially impressive.

A giggly exploration of the senses, with a dash of bodily humor.