Telephone

A pigeon, one of an unusual assortment of birds on a telephone wire, directs a cardinal to "tell Peter: Fly home for dinner." A wacky game of telephone ensues; fortunately, Owl interprets the (humorously) long and exaggerated message correctly and points Peter in the right direction. Bright, elegant art depicts amusing details that play up the silliness of each new message iteration.

The opening, wordless spread shows a neighborhood with cozy homes, children at play, and happy pets, while above it all a telephone wire hosts an unusual assortment of birds, shown as blobby silhouettes. The page-turn zooms in to show a scene on the wire: an aproned pigeon is directing a young cardinal holding a baseball bat to "tell Peter: Fly home for dinner." A wacky game of telephone -- on the telephone wire -- ensues, as a goose in an aviator helmet, a comic book-reading duck, an open-mouthed pelican, and others pass along changed versions of the message ("Lobsters are good hiders…My monster truck has big tires…Something smells like fire!"). By the time the message gets to Owl, it has become (humorously) long and exaggerated: "There's a giant monster lobster named Homer! He smells like socks and he breathes red fire! His eyes blaze like stars and he rides a crocodile that flies and he's coming to this wire! Tell Peter to fly! Fly far far away! He's too young to be somebody's dinner!" Fortunately, Owl manages to interpret the message correctly and points Peter in the right direction -- home for dinner -- as the sun sets on the back endpapers. Bright and elegant art done in watercolor, ink, gouache, and pencil depicts amusing details that play up the silliness of each new message iteration, but with plenty of white space to keep it all perfectly clear for readers and listeners. julie roach