THE BIG BOX

Adele in Sand Land is my first Toon Book. It is a Level 1 reader for newly independent readers. I think this book is more than a reader. The illustrations are so bizarre that you can be talking about them for hours. It’s not a read-and-discard book at all.

Where can young readers experience boundless imagination? In the sandbox, of course, as they follow Adele on her discovery of a barefoot king, a cloud of fluffy chicks, and a dessert island (YUM!). With this wild playground adventure, it’s easy to see why star French cartoonist Claude Ponti is one of the world’s most beloved children’s book authors.

The cover and the story, in a way, are inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Some young children are not familiar with it but it doesn’t matter.

Just like Alice, Adele goes on the wildest adventure and we are not sure if that’s her imagination or just a dream of a toddler. We can see at the beginning that she is in a stroller and we can later go back to this page and ask the students if they, just like me, think she dreamt all of it.

The story begins when they are just about to enter the park. Everything looks perfectly ordinary. Some people are walking past, a lonely dog watching a snail crawl.

The sandpit is busy. Lots and lots and lots of kids and mums are enjoying themselves. Okay, perhaps not all of them. There’s a rather grumpy grandma sitting on the bench.

One of the children is there with his male responsible adult who seems to be too engrossed with his paper while the boy is stuffing someone’s mouth with a large portion of sand. While one mum is catching up with her mate, her baby is making friends with a kitten. She is so happy talking that she misses the moment when her daughter emptied a bucket of sand onto someone’s head. Kids, eh? Good stuff. They even have an audience, at least three children are mesmerised by it.

Some are frustrated. Can you spot the bottle flying across and bang on someone’s back?

Actually, there are a few tired mums who come to socialise with others. While one of them is showing off her new baby, her slightly older one is checking out a bin.

Everyone is busy. Three kids are digging a tunnel to China. Right next to them there’s a kid but even if he is interested, he just can’t participate. He must be out with his Nana. In this weather, the child is wearing a snow suit and a woollen scarf. They didn’t forget to put on a hat that grandma had knitted last year for Christmas.

On the right side of the page there’s a construction that looks like a shoddy climbing frame. The kids are using each other as human ladders. Chances are, someone is going to end up crying.

Adele looks determined. Angry with something.

And then everything comes to life. Mums are too busy chatting and don’t even notice how they take off and fly away on a bench. Adele’s toy gets fed up with lying face down and jumps up to his feet. That lady’s baby falls out of the sandpit but nobody really cares at this point.

Adele is surprised, but not as surprised as most people would be when their sandcastle comes to life and a chick goes past wearing a red mask. Never mind.

So the Masked Chickie, Sandy, Stuffy and Adele set off, unaware that by this point the mums are gone - and so are all the houses in the area. Trees in the park turn into fat green crows and fly away. Adele and her new friends get sucked into a dragon’s mouth. It’s ok. Things happen. They end up deep in the creature’s gob and accidentally rescue all previous prisoners. Furballs break free and join the company, not sure though where they are all heading to.

I particularly loved the lamp post in the city inside the dragon.

If you think it can’t get any stranger, you are wrong. As they walk, they go past the Books, Pots and Pans shop that is both open and closed at the same time. They get shouted at by a police officer with someone literally whistling inside his helmet. The king doesn’t want anyone to hear anything, but at the same time he wants everyone to listen to him. It’s a bit confusing but everyone has corks in their ears, even if they don’t have any ears.

After every adventure, it’s time to go home. Adele finds a tunnel and goes back to her mummy.

Everything is back to normal.