OCTOPUS SOUP

After being absent from the trade market for a while, Mayer returns with this wordless book and his well-known “monster” touches. Panels and cartoon strips narrate this aquatic adventure, as a young octopus climbs up a fishing line into a rhino’s creel. On shore, the startled rhino flings the octopus, which lands on the head of a city parks worker, who sweeps him accidentally into a water pitcher in a restaurant. Aha, the plot thickens when the octopus is discovered by the walrus chef, and a comical chase ensues through the town. A “No Fishing Today” sign rescues the octopus from the soup pot, sending him home to Mama. The digital cartoon illustrations energetically animate the action with visual puns and slapstick details highlighting Mayer’s recognizable line work: The rhino fisherman has a Mom tattoo; a blimp flying over the ocean asks, “Got Gas?” Pacing and facial expressions extend the comedy in masterly fashion. This is not a variation on the familiar folk tale of Stone Soup (adding something to nothing) but Mayer’s own maritime madcap mimicking the Keystone Kops. Welcome back, Mercer; what’s next—turtle soup? (Wordless picture book. 5-8)