HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME
by Tom Pohrt
The illustrator of Barry Lopez’s Crow and Weasel (1990) moves to a more delicate style and palette to create this set of winsome pictures—accompanying, unfortunately, an aimless half-story. Weary of winter, young Eva and her cat Sam embark on the zeppelin La Grande Banane for a sunny, unnamed North African country. After being driven out of their hotel room by a gang of domino-playing insects, the two take a camel named Cassis across the desert to the elegant Crocodile CafÇ, contrive to escape when they discover themselves to be featured items on tomorrow’s menu, and are last seen penning postcards to friends back home. Depicted with transparent colors and thin, graceful lines, Eva and her feline companion exude similar airs of poised self-confidence, meeting each reversal of fortune with cheerful aplomb. Readers will fall in love with these intrepid vacationers, making the plot, which never comes to more than a handful of random incidents, all the more unsatisfactory. A misfire, albeit a promising one; readers will long to see Sam and Eva again, but in a stronger story. (Picture book. 7-9)