This Thing Called Life

Designer Borstlap adds snorts and giggles to this meditation on life by populating its spreads with lumpy, wonderfully bizarre flora and fauna. “Long, long ago,” he starts grandly, “a medley of stardust, gases, ice meteors, sunlight, and many other things we don’t understand created...// ...life.” And what life! Chubby plants with fat, furred protuberances; two-legged eyes and mouths; and more throng together in a warm, fertile gathering. Life’s about a lot of things: “It’s about reproducing,” Borstlap says, next to a football-shaped bird and its football-shaped egg. “It’s also about moving,” he continues, as a lithe creature that’s all legs and head sprints across the page, “and feeling,” personified by a blobby pink creature with soft, handlike tentacles. “Here’s the thing,” Borstlap concludes in a warm, confiding tone. “You can’t do life alone.” Another page turn leads to a primeval crowd. “Life is something we do together.” He stops there, a little abruptly, but it’s easy to imagine continuing the conversation, spurred on by this jaunty, unsanctimonious romp. Ages 4–8. [em](Oct.) [/em]