CAST AWAY ON THE LETTER A

A charming French import first published in 1972 and now translated into English for the first time about a boy who falls down a well and finds himself in a strange, whimsical world.

Philemon, a teenage boy, lives on a farm in France with his father. Ordered to their well to draw some water, Philemon finds a mysterious bottle—and then another—floating in its depths. He soon finds himself down the well and in a curious new world (much like Alice with the rabbit hole), with centaurs, unicorns, trees that grow bottles, and electric lights that grow on the beach and lure ships to their doom. He learns that he is stuck on a map, specifically on the capital letter A that begins the label “Atlantic Ocean”; as that letter A would be visible only on a printed map, he’s in a place “that doesn’t exist, [where] anything can exist.” Philemon must then puzzle out how to find his way back home in a world where anything is possible. In a market teeming with graphic-fantasy tales, this offering is remarkably imaginative and refreshingly different. Bright colors emblazon each page, with some spreads so vibrant they almost hurt to look at, and many of the architectural shapes pleasingly recall Dr. Seuss.

Not since Carroll’s Alice has there been such a marvelous and incredible adventure.