Gilly’s Monster Trap

Wearing big orange flippers and a striped swimsuit, her brown hair spilling out of a flowered swim cap, water-loving Gilly, who reads as white, spends her days paddling with pet fish Finnegan in Lighthouse Bay, amid the snow-capped peaks that surround it. But something’s afoot in this idyllic setting: a thief first steals from the local marketplace, where the community is portrayed with various skin tones, then swipes Gilly’s flippers right off her feet. Fears of a sea monster force the closing of the girl’s beloved beach, but Gilly stands pat: her dot eyes and expressive eyebrows exuding determination, she leads the adults in setting a trap, only to discover—after stumbling into the snare herself—that the culprit is a friendly walrus. Forgiven and dubbed Ringo, it becomes a full-fledged member of the Lighthouse Bay paddlers. Rendered in sprightly watercolor and ink cartoons, Marko’s action-packed picture book debut features a panoply of compositional styles, lively language (Gilly “scanned the horizon for horns and spikes. She inspected the waves for teeth and claws”), and a protagonist that is the very definition of mettle. Walrus facts conclude. Ages 4–8. Agent: Elizabeth Bennett, Transatlantic. (Apr.)