The Things in the Air

April 15, 2014
A free-spirited tale about elves that spend their time chasing down and collecting the joys of life, this book has an underlying message that is much deeper--nearly hidden. The titular Things in the Air are elusive, fleeting moments that bring happiness to all: a delicious smell, a lovely smile, funny riddles. The Sparkling Elves spend their days tracking down these fleeting joys until the Snouty Witches appear. Gray and gloomy, the witches symbolize the adult world with briefcases and an impatience with useless things. Their goal is be rid of the Things in the Air, which will turn the Sparkling Elves into dull, hardworking creatures. Will they succeed? Perhaps it's something in the translation, as the premise doesn't quite work, with illustrations that confuse and an overload of text on many pages. Surreal and phantasmagoric, the images convey a sense of the absurd with bright colors and bug-eyed creatures. Yet hidden under the magical overlay there are references to serious illness that are revealed in bits and pieces: baldness, dreamland and evil things that take away time. These chilling references, once seen, loom large, changing a silly fantasy book into a healing fable about the terminally ill. Saved by those sparkling elves, this tale will have fans who will appreciate its ethereal otherness, but for a typical audience, the symbolism will likely be lost in confusion. (Fiction. 6 & up)

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June 1, 2014

PreS-Gr 3-Carefree smiles, sweet kisses, imaginative stories, flying riddles, and silly words. These are all the "things in the air," beloved by the elves who live in the Forest of Light. The witches hate these things-and the Sparkling Elves, who, in their eyes, do nothing more than waste time. In order to suck the joy out of the little creatures and make them work, the ugly hags devise a plan to capture all the things in the air. Their plan does not work, since everything refuses to be buried or hidden. The story seeks to celebrate the imagination of children and their lively spirits while chiding adults for their focus on work and accomplishment, but it isn't convincing, even though the language is quite nice ("a gust of wind made of hugs carrying the aromas of Spring; a handful of winks that sparkled like stars; a pile of words made out of sweets"). The illustrations fail to capture the beauty of the intangible things in life. Finally, the amount of text per page is overly long, slowing down the story's momentum and preventing the book from being a successful read aloud.-Sally James, South Hillsborough Elementary School, Hillsborough, CA

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