THREE MAGIC BALLS

Once again, the team that created Buz (1995) and Jazper (1998) hangs imaginative, eye-catching art on a slight story line. The magical adventure begins when an old woman brings three balls with faces into an antique toy shop where a young boy helps his uncle after school. She claims that the balls are too much trouble for her and asks Rudy to look after them, giving him a gold whistle before she vanishes. Rudy discovers that the whistle controls the balls when they lure him into letting them out of their case for one far-fetched escapade in which they prevent a plane from crashing. Visually there’s much to recommend. The three retro-looking balls inflate into rotund rubber men in primary colors who bounce through and above the city and outside the boundaries of the paintings, with Rudy clinging to the blue one. The art is energetic, cheerful, and full of clever detail, and it’s especially appealing when the balls change shape to stop the plane and then reduce to their original size. Colorful endpapers reflect the toy store’s locale, and the typography is in an appropriately playful font, reminiscent of hand printing. Children can ponder further adventures, as Rudy seems to do when he purchases the balls on payday. (Picture book. 4-8)