by Moe Zilla

Created on: August 26, 2010

"Oh, no! You dumb computer, how could you?"

The book opens with a little boy named Orson whose computer screen suddenly goes black (accompanied by what looks like a whiff of black smoke). The next page shows three different pictures of his angst - each repeating the same caption: "No!" Children and geeks can both laugh at the little boy who loves his computer just a little too much. And the illustrations (by the book's author, Raul Colon) do a good job of capturing Orson's frustration.

On the next page, Orson announces that he's bored, as the illustrations shows the sound of his alarm clock filling the room with its "Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock...." But then a talking head appears from his Jack-in-the-Box - wearing a bow tie and top hat - and urges Orson to step outside. Like a true geek, little Orson announces, "I don't DO outside." But then he takes notice of two big surprises. The first surprise is that there's snow outside, even though it's July. And the second big surprise is that his Jack-in-the-Box is talking!

It's a detailed but unpredictable fantasy, and both the story and the illustrations do a good job of delivering it. Orson uses a bungee cord from his closet to lower himself from the window, and then walks across the snow using old tennis rackets as snowshoes. One two-page illustration shows him walking past over a dozen walruses with unusually long tusks. Then there's a strange orange-green glow in the sky, telling Orson that he must've reached the North Pole. Unfortunately, behind him is a curious polar bear, and Orson escapes on a floating ice floe.

It reminds me of a surreal old-fashioned comic strip. Anything can happen, and the story changes instantly, as the author exercises his imagination. The talking Jack-in-the-Box hopes that they'll be spotted by the eye of the approaching storm. But then Colon draws an actual eye, floating ominously in a dark cloud, and soon there's black waves and lightning. Suddenly a whale's tale tosses Orson and his friend to the shore of a peaceful island. Leaning against a palm tree, Orson then watches the twinkling stars in a purple sky through a telescope.

The back of the book defines the figures of speech which inspired some of the book's plot. (For example, "the eye of the storm.") But the story may also have been inspired by a real love of space travel. Colon dedicates the book "in memory of the Columbia 7," the space shuttle which disintegrated upon re-entry in 2003. Some people worried that the event would make future generations shun manned space expeditions. But in Colon's story, Orson enthusiastically imagines himself into a home-made rocket - and his adventure ends when he blasts himself into outer space, and then through a black hole!

The black hole returns Orson to his bedroom, where he decides it's time to play. But this time, the thrill of his imaginative adventure leads him to make a small change.

This time, Orson decides, he's going to play outside!

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