when A Boy Discovers A Single-propeller Airplane In His Closet, He Does What Any Young Adventurer Would Do: He Flies It Into Outer Space! Millions Of Miles From Earth, The Plane Begins To Sputter And Quake, Its Fuel Tank On Empty. The Boy Executes A Daring Landing On The Moon . . . But There's No Telling What Kind Of Slimy, Slithering, Tentacled, Fangtoothed Monsters Lurk In The Darkness! (plus, It's Dark And Lonely Out There.) Coincidentally, Engine Trouble Has Stranded A Young Martian On The Other Side Of The Moon, And He's Just As Frightened And Alone. Martian, Earthling—it's All The Same When You're In Need Of A Friend.

jeffers's (the Incredible Book Eating Boy) Arrestingly Illustrated Book Begins With The Creation Of A Spare Watercolor World-a Single, Nameless Boy On A Deserted Beach. Quickly The Story Takes A Surprising Turn: The Boy Finds An Airplane In His Closet And Crashes It On The Moon. When He's Joined By A Similarly Stranded Martian, The Two Strangers Hatch A Scrappy Plan For Rescue, Suggesting A Moral: It's Good To Work Together. After The Unusual Narrative Leaps At The Beginning Of The Story, The Message Feels A Little Forced, And It's Less Fun Than Expected. Even So, A Quality Reminiscent Of thelittle Prince Comes Through, Not Just In The Lone Boy/outer-space Setting, But In The Balance Between The Humor In The Predicament And Loneliness. These Two Emotions Are Matched Perfectly By The Mixed-media Art. Colorful Figures Swim In Vast Amounts Of Negative Space, Isolated And A Bit Melancholy, But Their Postures And Faces Are Playful, Almost Comic. An Odd Scale And Lopsided Figures Suggest A World Off-kilter, While Silly Monsters And Impossible Feats Keep Things Light. With Uneven Graphite Outlines On Watercolor-soaked Paper That Reveals The Grain Of The Paper, The Overall Effect Is Tactile, Textured And Even A Little Childlike. Ages 4-up. (apr.)

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• Children's Books
  
  
  • Cars, Trains & Things That Go
    • Planes & Aviation