Earthlets: As Explained by Professor Xargle - Softcover

Tony Ross lives in London, England.

Grade 2-3-- A wickedly funny lecture on "Earthlets" (babies) is delivered by Professor Xargle to an amphitheatre of green, five-eyed, tentacled space creatures. Earthlets, he says, "are patted and squeezed after drinking their milk so they won't explode. . . They often leak. When they do they can be pinned into a white cloth or sealed in soft paper with tape." And so goes this anthropological, alien's eye view of babies. When the lesson ends Professor Xargle and class don human disguises and embark on a field trip, by spaceship, to Planet Earth. Ross' bright watercolors are zany and sophisticated, making the most of Willis' wry observations. His pudgy babies find themselves covered in "mash" (baby food), sprinkled with "dust" (baby powder), and rocked to sleep in a "beddy-bye" (cradle). Despite its picture book format, this title may work best in the fiction collection, as a quick read for second and third graders. Laughs abound when one considers the odd way in which we might look to objective observers. The macabre Twilight Zone ending adds to the fun. --Gail C. Ross, Baltimore County Public Library
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