Lucy Fell Down the Mountain

October 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-The title sums up this exciting plummet into weirdness. Lucy, while falling, meets an also-falling mountain man with a rope and a (not) bungee-jumping duck and a cave full of bears, none of whom prove to be helpful. It seems the only thing she can do about her cold bum, headache, and the fact that she's falling down a mountain is to roll with it. There's plenty of evocative language-"Down the mountain Lucy zoomed like a tiny kid comet, gathering globs of sticky white snow." Readers are sure to love several mentions of the word butt as well as a nice barf at the end. The illustrations are full of movement, allowing readers to fall right alongside Lucy and her crew. Cornell's signature cartoon style will be familiar to fans of his "The Terrible Two" series with Mac Barnett, and the facial expressions of Lucy and her companions are bound to get kids falling down with laughter. VERDICT This action-packed seasonal cliff-hanger is the perfect choice for fans of Jon Klassen's I Want My Hat Back and other stories that lean toward the bizarre.-Hillary Perelyubskiy, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2018
No one knows how it happened, but somehow, young Lucy finds herself falling straight down the mountain, and it is just as terrifying for her as you would imagine.Readers first meet protagonist Lucy on the reverse of the title page as she begins to fall down the mountain, a tiny figure tumbling down next to the copyright statement. Opposite the gutter, in a closer view, she is seen to be wide-eyed and cold, and all manner of things are tumbling out of her backpack. As luck would have it, she meets a "mountain man" along the way who can throw her a rope...except he throws it away instead. Down and down she goes, meeting a kooky cast of characters (a "bungeeing duck"--who actually isn't bungeeing; a "great, shuffling pile of bears") along the way. Bright illustrations with vivid colors and a very expressive Lucy give this quirky, quick nonsense tale a whole lot of personality. Large type scattered across the pages along with Lucy and her belongings make it fun for new readers. Lucy's personality shines through as she ultimately is able to save herself from her predicament, hitting the snow with heads and legs tucked so she turns into a "tiny kid comet," even if she can't rescue herself from puking (although kids will find this hilarious). Lucy has brown skin and straight, dark hair, and the mountain man is brown-skinned as well.All in all, this is a fun one. (Picture book. 3-6)

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