The Prickletrims Go Wild

This quirky work translated by Lawson stars a suburban family with a geometric walled garden. Clad in black-and-white patterns, Mr. and Mrs. Prickletrim give “precise and detailed instructions” to gardener Florian, measuring the grass with a ruler and inspecting blooms with a magnifying glass. When Florian quits in disgust one July morning, he tells his creation, “Now, my beloved garden, grow and bloom as you wish, in beautiful abundance,” and it does. In densely worked, digitally finished pencil spreads, Dorléans (Our Fort) draws enormous, graceful flowers growing in lush profusion around the family’s house and taking over its interior, surrounding Mr. and Mrs. Prickletrim and child Suzette with feathery branches and bold-hued blooms. A flock of singing birds arrives, and Suzette interprets their message: “Nature is beautiful, wild and free!” In moments of awakening, Mr. and Mrs. Prickletrim experience liberation: “They gazed, they touched, they smelled—they marvelled.” The idyll doesn’t last forever, but their transformation continues. While broad comedy pokes fun at those trying to exercise control over untamable forces, spreads remind readers of the magnificence of nature left to its own devices. Characters are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 4–7. (Apr.)