WHERE WILLY WENT...

Willy is an enterprising little sperm, if a little on the numb side when it comes to arithmetic. Still, he’s quite a swimmer, and on the day of the Great Swimming Race he manages to navigate both the map of Mr. Browne and the Map of Mrs. Browne, and beat the other 299,999 competitors to reach the prize: a beautiful egg. Taking his cue from Monty Python, Allan tells Willy’s story with a light touch, equipping all the sperm with itty-bitty goggles and racing numbers and imbuing the resulting baby Edna with both Willy’s difficulty with numbers and his talent for swimming. It’s all very good-humored, and the maps of the parents Browne are more or less anatomically accurate, but the tale begs—and then fails to answer—the hard question: “But how does Willy get into Mrs. Browne?” A long shot of a bed with heaped-up covers is discreet but clear as mud. Any offering that purports to explain “the facts of life,” as its jacket copy boasts, but dodges that critical question, does both children and their hapless parents a real disservice. (Picture book. 4-8)