Some Fools, A Turtle and Queen Elizabeth by A.M. Lascurain, illustrated by Dariusz and Agnieszka Golen: This is the tale of a jester named Peppy Birthdaycakes and his quest to become funny. He is aided by several other jesters, a dairy maid who also does alchemy, and a turtle with a French accent. In the meantime, the evil (and bumbling) wizard Humidor stalks them. The whole story is laced with puns and other silliness, and on every other page is an absolutely beautiful illustration. Most of my quibbles are technical: typos and grammatical errors are everywhere, and I really wish all of the gorgeous artwork could have been printed right side up. I understand the point of printing them sideways so they fit on the page better, but it’s distracting to constantly be turning the book. On the bright side, they are all rotated to the left, so you only have to turn the book one way. Anyway, despite the technical issues, overall this is a very cute little fairy tale, excellent for reading aloud to children.

Also posted on BookCrossing.