THE SPECTACULAR SPACE LOOP

A boy encounters curious creatures on a strange galactic journey.

Cosmo is ready to test a jet pack prototype, but things go haywire as soon as it’s activated. Thrust deep into swirling space, he’s found by a purple creature who looks distinctly like an upside-down light bulb and who turns out to be most hospitable, offering Cosmo nachos and a place to rest. Soon, a careless push of a button sends Cosmo hurtling headlong into a lush jungle, where he discovers a wiggly white bloblike creature in search of its family. The pair proceed to a bustling city, where they narrowly evade a great green sewer monster and meet a bald, bearded, pink-skinned magician who vows to send them homeward. His specious spell simply flips them topsy-turvy, and the story literally turns upside down as well. Youngsters must then flip the book over, reading from back to front and viewing the peculiar planetary passage in a new light—the seemingly bald magician grows a full head of hair, frowns become smiles, and a sinister skull cracker replaces the harmless nachos—but all is made right in the end. De Castro’s creative concept is impressively executed; each image must work turned on its head, and it does. Moreover, Cosmo’s interstellar odyssey is so fun and fully realized that readers will intuitively understand what’s going on, making it a page-turner, twice over. In de Castro’s squared-off, thick-lined cartoon artwork, Cosmo is light-skinned and wears a spacesuit throughout.

A wild ride with a wonderfully weird cast of creatures.