Malice in Ovenland

In this series opener, after Lily Brown falls into a passage in the back of her mother's stove, she stumbles into Ovenland, a world of grease-feasting creatures who hold her responsible for the decreasing grease deposits resulting from her mother's shift toward healthier foods. Escaping won't be easy, and it's sure to be messy (there's no shortage of vomit gags and scatological humor, and Overland is saturated in grease), but Lily believes that she has the smarts to find her way home. Newcomer Hess delivers a goofy tale that is enjoyable even though it is a thinly guised moral tale about the importance of eating healthily. While the title suggests a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, the comparisons are mostly superficial. Regardless, Lily's geekiness, willingness to get dirty, and loyalty to her friends should endear her to readers. Hess smoothly incorporates exposition with action sequences, and she shows creativity in her layout design, border choices, and use of full-page panels%E2%80%94it's clear she deliberated on how best to encapsulate key moments of the story. Ages 7%E2%80%939. (Aug.)