cover image Off: The Day the Internet Died: A Bedtime Fantasy

Off: The Day the Internet Died: A Bedtime Fantasy

Chris Colin and Rinee Shah. Prestel, $15 (32p) ISBN 978-3-7913-8687-4

Colin (What to Talk About) teams with illustrator Shah (The Made-up Words Project) for this satirical “bedtime story.” In the near future, Colin and Shah imagine a “day the screens [go] dark,” when smartphones, computers, and TVs inexplicably cease working. Though society at first mourns the loss of easily googleable factoids and “dog fails,” Colin’s nameless protagonist (who pronounces like a biblical narrator) and his children rediscover the pleasures of enjoying nature, playing games (Minecraft now involves actual leaves and sticks), and connecting with others face-to-face. Shah’s luscious coloring and cleverly designed spoofs on Christian iconography are a consistent delight, particularly her broken-laptop-toting cherubs. But Colin’s premise falters into cliché (“On the day the screens went dark, I swiped neither left nor right upon the toilet”) and feels rather ill-timed to the pandemic moment where essential human connection depends on screen connectivity. Though for those who share its luddite-shakes-fist sensibility, the visual appeal and dry wit make it a ready gift-book for the technophobic. [em](Mar.) [/em]