LUCKY LAZLO

Steve Light's Lucky Lazlo is about a young boy whose beloved is due to star in a play later that day. Lazlo is lucky to find the last red rose at the flower shop, and he's lucky to have a seat in the front row. But that's where his luck runs out. A cat runs up and steals his rose, causing poor, unlucky Lazlo to have to chase it through the entire theater, from the orchestra pit to backstage.

Light's images run readers through a whole series of theater-based superstitions like not having mirrors on stage and never holding an opening night on a Friday. There's also an author's note in the back that describes all of the superstitions we see in the spreads, so the book is rife with larger and (very) small details for readers to search out. Along the way we not only get to see behind-the-scenes at a theater performance, but we also get to see a myriad of Alice in Wonderland characters. It makes the book a fun homage to Lewis Carroll's nonsensical story of Alice in Wonderland.

As if we didn't already know, Light is an absolute master of pen and ink, as well as using color to pull focus. Often we get whole spreads that have been pen-and-inked, with flashes of color that pull readers through the story. We watch as the boy chases the cat through an escalating series of events, following the colors as they move from left to right, from old to new.

Lucky Lazlo publishes today from Candlewick Press!