by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 06, 2010

It's starts out as a book about playing in the snow, but it's really just another funny story about talking animals in the big city. In this case, it's a penguin and his friend the polar bear, and the book begins as they're building a snow sculpture with the freshly fallen snow. They build a pretend rocket ship out of the snow, but it turns into a real rocket ship (when they see a shooting star). So suddenly the penguin and the polar bear are flying through the sky - and throughout the entire flight, the polar bear is screaming.

But in "Romeo and Lou Blast Off," there's also lots of extra jokes hidden in the illustrations. The foreground of one drawing shows a box of the polar bear's favorite breakfast - a cereal called Tuna O's. And when the animals finally land, their picture is already in the newspaper - but they're both drawn with antennas.  ("UFO in city... Are they here?") The city is filled with cantankerous signs.  ("No parking ever... Parking $1 per minute - pay up!")  A sign that warns "No dogs allowed" is accompanied by a second sign which reads "Except Fridays." And there's even a sign labelled:  "Just another sign."

The animals decide they're in "a strange forest," and mistake the signs for trees. Then they mistake a white dog for a little polar bear, and its owner (in a suit) for a penguin. There's a statue of a seal, which they assume is just ignoring them while spitting water.  The polar bear decides that the seal is just being rude...

They mistake two construction workers for walruses, and an SUV for a rocket ship. They mistake a police officer for a shark. And they make one last mistake which eventually takes them home.  The penguin builds another pretend rocket ship out of cardboard - but fortunately, they're already on a freighter ship which is headed to the polar ice caps. So they're accidentally headed home after all, as they stare up joyfully into the night sky.

What makes the book work is a cheerful and positive tone. "The sun was golden, the air was sweet, and a blanket of fresh snow was waiting," the book begins, as the penguin runs with the polar bear to "their favorite snowy, blowy, hill." The author says he based the polar bear on the personality of his favorite white dog. Maybe that's how he managed so much affection for the characters in his silly story.

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