GENIUS IN A HIGH CHAIR

The titular genius models the process of language acquisition among the very young.

Koko, a trademark Wells gray-and-white bunny, has “an inbox behind [his] ears.” All day, every day, Koko’s parents and grandparents consciously “fill up that inbox” with words of love, songs, and rhymes. These words appear in boldface in the text and again as free-floating pictorial elements swirling around Koko on their way into his ears. In the lower-right-hand corner of every double-page spread, Wells positions an old-fashioned wooden letter tray in which all the words Koko hears stack up. “Everything Mama, Daddy, Gran, and Gramps said and sang zinged right into Koko’s inbox…until it was so full that all of a sudden…clickety-click ping! Koko’s outbox geared up and kicked in!” Here readers see both the teetering stack of words in Koko’s inbox and an outbox with Hello! in it. On subsequent pages, the inbox has been replaced with an outbox into which Koko’s growing expressive vocabulary piles up. As a metaphor aimed at adults, the book excels. As a story for children, it falls flat; the inbox imagery will likely go over little ones’ heads. Fans of Wells’ mischievous plotting will be disappointed, a final twist offering only thin gruel compared to the exploits of Ruby, Max, and Nora.

A developmentally accurate model more likely to appeal to caregivers than its intended audience.