KITOTO THE MIGHTY

A familiar folktale is retold, as a mouse goes in search of the most powerful entity on earth, and finds out that it is one of his own kind. Hungry and searching for food, Kitoto flees a predatory hawk. He approaches the powerful river and beseeches it to be his friend and protect him, for it “must be the most powerful of all beings.” The river explains that the sun is the most powerful, for it can burn the river to a trickle. The sun refers the mouse to the wind, who can hide the savanna from its view with clouds. When Kitoto finds a mouse chewing holes through a mountain, they become friends and pledge to help each other. The illustrations portray the savanna with exotic animals and deeply colored landscapes; the elements, personified, are outlandish, from the sun with its wild points of golden hair to the wind with serpentine braids and gold bracelets. This old story is always compelling, in a setting full of adventure. (Picture book. 5-7)