Janet K. Lee

Beautiful illustrations accompanied by a quick, simple fantastical tale. I wish stopping war was that easy. I was so expecting Clia's mom to use military force anyway.

[rating from personal enjoyment]

Made me think of H G Wells Time Machine, adapted with (the Morlocks as) innocent children living underground, and machine people overground. I liked the element of the angel bringing hope to the children and power to the protagonist, after the Dapper Men rained in and restored time. The text had something lacking, felt like something missing, but the illustrations are superb, and overall the book has all the elements of a fantastic dream story with great potential for a sequel. Full colour.

Stunning art that melds art nouveau style with hyper-realistic faces. A modern undersea adventure with mermaids and coral snakes and fanciful repurposed trash balloons and a cat who enjoys surfing. Very imaginative, love that it calls back to L. Frank Baum, but that it's also grounded in a modern kid with a scurrilous cat and a forgetful grandfather. Neat!