The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck: A Tale from the Age of Wonder by Matt Phelan

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck: A Tale from the Age of Wonder by Matt Phelan Elizabeth Bush Phelan, Matt The Sheep, the Rooster, and the Duck: A Tale from the Age of Wonder; written and illus. by Matt Phelan. Greenwillow, 2022 [240p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780062911001 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780062911025 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 3-5 Readers who have been delighted by Marjorie Priceman’s Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride (BCCB 07/05) should recognize the titular barnyard trio as the passengers in the Montgolfiers’s renowned balloon demonstrations for the entertainment of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Here Phelan picks up several years after the historical event with an imaginative yarn about the animals’ subsequent involvement in keeping the world at peace, largely by limiting the misuse of glittery new scientific inventions. Benjamin Franklin, lingering in France after America’s Revolution, has been scribbling notes and illustrations for a heat ray to be mounted on a hot air balloon, and there are spies bent on purloining said notes for nefarious purposes, both predictable (foment war between France and Britain) and less predictable (use the distraction to enthrone a king in the United States). This is a loose-jointed affair featuring cameos from many historical players, from Mozart playing the glass armonica to Mesmer controlling Franklin’s brain with the word “mayonnaise,” and there’s little effort to keep animals and humans reasonably true to their real-life roles as they plot and chase each other around Versailles. Still, wordless sequential art brings flashes of real charm, and readers looking for more whimsy than realism will enjoy this as a history-inspired romp. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois