Book Description
for Weasels by Elys Dolan
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A host of weasels tending to a vast Machine are counting down to the moment of their coup, and World Domination, when they suddenly lose electricity and are plunged into darkness. An observant reader will notice that the coffee-delivering weasel has tripped over a power cord, but several pages of weasel problem-solving commence before that discovery. Power-mad weasels are a funny concept, but it’s the art in this busy picture book that elevates its execution to a laugh-out-loud level. Individual weasels are identifiable and their stories followed throughout, from the white-rabbit-stroking leader (à la Bond villain SPECTRE Number 1) to the busy worker toting a massive drill (“I’m entirely confident that this huge drill will fix everything”) to the rule-obsessed Health and Safety Weasel (“No one can violate Health and Safety”). Most of the main text is limited to a phrase or sentence per page, but plentiful dialogue bubbles and visual jokes (like the pair using their work computer to play “World of Woodcraft”) add layers of complexity for sophisticated picture book readers to discover. (Ages 5–10)
CCBC Choices 2015. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2015. Used with permission.