Smon Smon

PreS-Gr 3-Danowski, German illustrator of the Batchelder award winner Grandma Lives in a Perfume Village, creates a bewitching and alien world full of delicious fruits and compassionate beings. The Smon Smon lives on the planet Gon Gon, a woodsy, watery world full of mushroom like pon pons and variety of beings like the Klon Klon and the feathery Flon Flons. Smon Smon is in need of more lon lons, so it heads from its won won on a ton ton. On Smon Smon's journey, there are many mishaps where others step in to help. Each time that help is given, in the spirit of reciprocity, there is a reward for those that offer a selfless act. Danowski's illustrations assist readers as they delight in decoding the new vocabulary of this unusual world, making this a great companion to Carson Ellis's Du Iz Tak. Warm, autumnal pen, ink, and watercolor hues give a dreamlike sense of time and place to this mystical landscape. Her full pages and spreads mixed with choice moments of paneling offer great pacing and moments to pause and take in this fantastical land. Themes that might feel saccharine and didactic in other hands feel fresh and new in this foreign world.