cover image The Land of the Big

The Land of the Big

Jan Mogensen. Crocodile Books, $14.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-56656-111-2

Gulliver's Travels meets National Geographic as Sophie and Uncle Charlie hop a boat to the Land of the Big, where ``ordinary'' flying fish look like flying whales. Uncle's friend the Wizard Ant seats the tourists on top of a gargantuan ladybug, then leads them to an eatery in a hollow tree and, finally, to the Queen Ant's spacious digs. Mogensen's attempts at fancy are annulled by the drab undertone of his watercolor illustrations and by the pace, which tends toward the tedious (the tour of the ant palace needlessly reiterates its inhabitants' industriousness and swift reproduction). The conclusion, moreover, seems entirely arbitrary. Ages 3-8. (Sept.)