PreS-Gr 4--Without the printed book in hand, the multiracial aspect of Gauld's delightful kiddie debut isn't clear in the audio alone. Enabling simultaneous reading with both eyes--Eisner Award--winning Gauld's artistry is wonderfully inviting throughout--and ears makes for an ideal pairing. The tale opens with a portrait of a Black queen and a white king "who happily ruled a pleasant land, but they had no children." With the help of the royal inventor and a clever witch, the king and queen become devoted parents to a robot prince and a log princess. Unintentional circumstances send the children on faraway adventures, but their eventual safe reunion ensures the familial happily ever after. London-based actor Jessica Hayles--herself multiracial--is a gently welcoming narrator, deftly ciphering appropriate voices from the kind witch to the exasperated maid, the lucky goblin to the helpful barge captain. VERDICT Clever enchantment awaits.

A brother and sister must overcome obstacles to rescue each other in a marvelous journey. "There once lived," the tale begins, and it ends quite satisfactorily with "happily ever after." In between, two heroic adventures are linked together, each complete with difficulties, brave rescues, kindnesses, and magical coincidences. The little wooden robot and the log princess are gifts from the royal inventor and a clever witch, respectively, for "a king and queen who happily ruled a pleasant land" but had no children. Everyone in the family loves one another, and the siblings play together all day. But when, calamitously, the princess becomes fixed in her log form one night, the little robot doesn't hesitate to board a ship for the far north to save his sister, and when his parts fail on the way back, the princess steps up courageously. The additional myriad escapades of each young hero are captured in charming graphic montages. Gauld's crisp, clear art, with captivating small details in backgrounds and endpapers, adds richness to the narrative. The amiable faces of each of his human and humanoid characters, along with those of birds, bugs, and forest creatures, give a feel of intimacy and familiarity. The queen appears Black and the king White, and the princess has brown skin. Gauld's fairy tale feels both timeless and completely new; utterly fresh, yet like a story heard long ago and finally found again. Enchanting. . (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Familiar fairy-tale tropes are re-envisioned through Gauld's (a cartoonist and New Yorker cover artist) particular deadpan lens for this original fairy tale. A childless royal couple calls upon technology (the royal inventor) and magic (the clever old witch) to solve their problem. The wooden robot and the log princess are the happy result. Their particular natures and needs land this brother and sister in a series of sticky situations, and things get just tense enough before order is restored. Like many folktales, this one resonates with age-old (and contemporary) anxieties such as loneliness and the nature of being human. But unlike traditional tales, this narrative contains no malevolent characters. Bad luck sets the plot spinning, and sibling love and the kindness of strangers help set everything to rights. The pictures demonstrate Gauld's genius with simple-seeming line drawings and the crisp, clean use of cartoon-panel page design. In his children's book debut, Gauld demonstrates his love for odd, funny, invented archetypes (such as the Queen of the Mushrooms) while elsewhere playing it absolutely straight, showing respect for his audience and for the fairy-tale form. Sarah Ellis July/August 2021 p.79(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This invented fairy tale by cartoonist Gauld (Mooncop, for adults) offers whimsy, imaginative power, and narrative poise. When a king and a queen longing for offspring each see an expert about the topic, an inventor creates a wooden robot, and a witch charms a log into a princess who has a secret: she turns back into a log if she falls asleep. Though the children are devoted to each other, the robot fails to conjure the princess anew one fateful morning ("Awake, little log, awake"), and a maid tosses the seemingly out-of-place log out the window. The robot gives chase as the princess hurtles downhill and into a gigantic boatload of lumber headed for the frozen North: "That log is the most precious thing in the world to me," he says, as he follows it on its journey. The rest of the story unfolds with amusing fairy-tale inevitability ("he had too many adventures to recount here" precedes a paneled page of humorous scenarios) as Gauld's stick-figure characters and clean, flat panel artwork deliver visual information with the detailed calm of a map or a set of instructions. Ages 4--8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Aug.)

Longing for children, a king and queen consult an inventor, who creates a little wooden robot prince, and a witch, who turns a log into a princess with a secret: whenever she sleeps, she returns to log form, until a magic phrase reawakens her as a child. A servant, seeing a log in the princess' bed one morning, tosses it out the window. Realizing what has happened, her brother follows her trail down to the docks and onto a ship transporting logs. After its cargo is unloaded in the frozen North, the prince finds the log, lifts it into a little cart, and begins the long, difficult walk home. Exhausted, he begins to falter. He wakens his sister, who takes over, pulling the wooden robot in the cart. After she collapses as well, some unexpected allies rescue the children. The beautifully worded narrative and engaging artwork combine to give this picture book its considerable appeal. Two full-page illustrations name some of the royal children's adventures during their journey but let young listeners imagine how those enticing-sounding stories might unfold. Created with pen and ink, shaded with fine parallel lines and crosshatching, and digitally colored, the scenes are full of vintage charm, while the characters have an amiable, cartoon look. A captivating, original fairy tale.