ADVENTURE ON KLICKITAT ISLAND

This well-crafted poem from Hippely, about responsibility and daring in the teeth of a storm, has some of its power diluted by overly tame artwork. As a boy and his teddy, Beary, snuggle in for the night, a great blow commences. The bear hears a call of distress, so they get up and row their dinghy out to Klickitat Island, where they find a bedraggled lot of animals suffering from the storm’s rain and chill. The boy rallies the despondent otters, deer, rabbits, and foxes (“We’ve brought you our blankie—/we’ll share it with you;/it helps us feel brave/and will help you all, too”) to build a shelter in which to hunker down and wait out the storm. When the weather breaks that night, the boy and teddy head back to the boat and home, where they promise themselves to go back to Klickitat the next dark, stormy night. The musicality of the poem and its understated virtuousness overcome any visual inconsistencies with a dynamism and gallantry all its own. (Picture book. 4-8)