HOW TO RIDE A DRAGONFLY

A child takes readers along on an Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland–esque adventure.

If you want to ride a dragonfly, first you need to shrink yourself, and the narrator has just the way to manage it…and to become big again, but be careful you don’t miss the sunset deadline or you’ll be tiny forever! Once you’re small, it’s easy to make a grass lasso and capture a dragonfly to ride (Priscilla in this case). Once astride, you can joust against bees with thistle spears, have a tea party with fairies, dodge hungry frogs, rock out with the Beetle Band, and do some acrobatic trick riding, though none of this is without incident (and the scenes with the bee queen and the fairies can seem a bit judgmental and lacking in evidence: “Bees are sore losers”). The child has blond hair, light skin, and a red-and-white polka dot dress, while Priscilla (at least when the child is tiny) sports a blue shirt and red-and-white striped pants. While the child and fauna in the watercolor-and-ink illustrations are cartoony and delightfully anthropomorphized (the Beetle Band and jiving bugs are highlights), the flora at times looks like the stained-glass scenery panels done by Tiffany, especially the water lilies and the cattails, which provides for an interesting contrast and gives the eye a place to rest. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A beautiful and interesting flight of fancy.