A Review of Once Upon a Twice by Denise Doyen and Barry Moser

I often caution beginning picture book writers to avoid rhyme, especially since they tend to attempt to channel Seuss. It takes true poetic mastery to avoid writing in rhyme that calls too much attention to itself and clonks at the end of every line. Fortunately, Denise Doyen knows what she's doing.

In this mousely epic, we learn of a little mouse named Jam who is bold and curious and full of mischief. The elders of his tribe notice his antics and warn him, white beards quivering, that his approach to life isn't nearly cautious enough and will get him into big trouble. Heedless Jam skitters off along the lake's edge and—gets into big trouble.

I'm not fond of cautionary tales, but this one is told with great glee. The tone verges on tongue-in-cheek, which I think redeems it. Best of all is Doyen's use of rhythm and rhyme, especially some well-chosen made-up words with a distinctly mouse-ish feel. Here's a sample, the beginning of the story:

Once upon a twice,
In the middle of the nice,
The moon was on the rice
And the Mice were scoutaprowl...
They runtunnel through the riddle—
Secret ruts hid inbetwiddle—
But one mousling jams the middle!
Whilst he goofiddles, others howl:
"Who's the holdup? What's the matter?"
Night's qui-etiquette is shattered!

Children will relate to "riskarascal" Jam, who thinks the grown-ups are no fun and are overreacting with their numerous "preycautions." For their part, parents and teachers will enjoy reading Once Upon a Twice out loud; it rolls off the tongue much like Margaret Mahy's recent book, Bubble Trouble.

Barry Moser's art tends to be dark and ponderous, but here he turns his darkness to good use, telling a mouse story set entirely in the night beside a lake, with a great moon shining overhead. Young readers will see threats, along with midnight beauty, that Jam and his relations are too small to observe. Secondary characters such as frogs and turtles act as witnesses to Jam's foolishness and adventures.

There's something literary about this book, which stands out in a crop of newly published picture books that are trying too hard to be commercial. I recommend Once Upon a Twice mostly because of Doyen's lovingly crafted language, but then, the story is also a lot of fun!

A Review of Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy and Polly Dunbar

New Zealander Margaret Mahy is one of those rare authors who writes cross-genre with incredible skill: picture books, humorous chapter books, and dark, sophisticated books for teens. Before there was ever such a character as Edward Cullen, I fell in love with the troubled witch boy in her classic supernatural tale, Changeover. But today I’m reviewing something at the other end of the spectrum, Mahy’s latest giddy picture book, Bubble Trouble.

The story is fairly simple: a little girl named Mabel is blowing bubbles and one bubble lifts her baby brother into the sky, where he floats along, chased by a growing crew of would-be rescuers as colorful as that chain of goose-grabbing people in the old fairy tale about making a sad princess laugh. As her brother is faced with increasing peril late in the story, Mabel manages to save the day.

This is all very nice, but what it doesn’t tell you is just how amazing the rhymes are. We’re talking page after page of near-tongue twisters. The internal rhymes in particular are works of genius. If Bruce Degen’s Jamberry went to Oxford University, I’m thinking it would graduate as Bubble Trouble.

In fact, enough of the vocabulary words in this book are rather elevated that some people might be a tad intimidated by them:

In her garden, Chrysta Gribble had begun to cry and cavil at her lazy brother, Greville, reading novels in his bed. But she bellowed, “Gracious, Greville!” and she groveled in the gravel when the baby in the bubble bibble-bobbled overhead.

I’m here to tell you that this book is worth it—your child won’t need to understand every word to follow the story, and the rollicking sounds of the words will be a pleasure to adult readers and lap listeners alike.

For their part, Polly Dunbar’s lively illustrations contribute great good humor to the narration. Watch for the innovative use of a Scrabble board in both the art and the story telling, for example. I also really liked Dunbar’s work on Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters’s terrific poetry collection, Here’s a Little Poem. She’s one of those British illustrators we need to import more often.

If you want an upbeat read as well as a workout for your tongue, get your hands on Margaret Mahy’s Bubble Trouble and share it with the nearest small human!