ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
PICTURE BOOKS
Bauer, Jutta

Albie on His Way

36 pp. | Red Comet | October, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-1-63655-032-9 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-63655-033-6 $10.99
(2) K-3 Translated by Matthias Wieland. The main story here employs the benign fairy-tale trope of a questing traveler who pauses on the journey to help out those in need. Albie, a mouse in red track pants, is summoned by the king, a pig, to deliver a scroll to a neighboring castle. Even though speed is of the essence, Albie interrupts the trip to administer first aid to an injured squirrel, retrieve a lost toy, and babysit for a harassed mother. He also meets his true love. Concurrently, a wordless strip running along the bottom of the pages shows what the king is up to during Albie's long absence. While the mouse's world is full of color, connection, and kindness, the king's monochromatic scenes suggest boredom, restlessness, and even grief, along with underscoring just how very long our deliverer's trip is taking. Humorously, Albie takes a wrong turn and ends up back home, scroll undelivered. The king, delighted to see him, throws the scroll into the fire and invites Albie to live in a cottage on the castle grounds, with visiting privileges for all the friends he made on his ­journey. (Looking back, we wonder what was in that scroll.) There's more to this fable than a tidy ending and the sheer visual fun of seeing a squirrel in a full-body cast.
Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

RELATED 

PICTURE BOOKS

Born Ready
by Patterson, Jodie
PICTURE BOOKS

The House of Grass and Sky
by Ray, Mary Lyn
PICTURE BOOKS

The Dog's Gardener
by Storms, Patricia
PICTURE BOOKS

And I Paint It
by Kephart, Beth
PICTURE BOOKS

Poem in My Pocket
by Tougas, Chris
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?