"Evie found a wand, some solid frozen ground,
a deep snowdrift, and some magic words.
Snowcus pocus! Blizzard lizzard! Open snowflake!
and she was gone."
Evie is a big sister who believes in magic. She wishes she could use it to effectively rid herself of her three siblings: Wolfie, Bunny, and Teddy. They are appropriately named for the animal pyjamas they are wearing. To find a quiet space for herself, Evie retreats to the cold of a winter landscape. Not to be outdone, her siblings happily follow. This scenario calls for magic. To Evie's surprise, when she jumps into the snowbank, the text requires the reader to follow until the book tips upside down. Evie enters an underground world filled with sea creatures and galaxies of light. Her sibs are right behind her.
As her world changes so dramatically, so does the brilliant artwork created by Ms. Marcero. The graphic panels that showed her life at home with her family are replaced with scenes meant to take the breath way. Her siblings ride seahorses, Evie rides off on the back of a dolphin. The pursuit quickly changes when Evie feels the presence of something dangerous. Quickly, she goes into protection mode and hides her siblings.
"Evie couldn't bear the thought of her siblings getting hurt.
So she scooped back, zigged high, zagged low, and dipped
and zipped everyone one into a hiding place."
It is Teddy who understands that the whale is in need of help to free her baby from a constellation-shaped fishing net. Helping to quickly untangle the baby earns them a ride home from a very grateful mother. The world (and the book) rights itself, and three tired children race toward the warmth of hearth and home; Evie follows.
It's almost impossible to describe the beauty found in the magical world the children visit. Ms. Marcero uses actual images taken from the James Webb Space Telescope to enhance the awesome world she creates for their adventure. Her watercolor and ink art, finished digitally, is luminous and full of movement, and charm.
Enchanting, and certainly worthy of repeated readings. Bravo!
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