Up, Up and Away

Orson loves to make things, and he is so good at it, that he decides he must make a planet.  Being a good user of the library, he reads up on the subject and discovers he needs some rocks, water, metal – and a ‘big bang’.  Having collected all he needs, he does, indeed make his planet – ‘a tiny planet with rings around it’.  He is immensely proud of his planet, but the planet itself is not very happy, and Orson realises that he must learn how to care for his new friend.  Back to books again, and soon he is feeding, cleaning and making the planet neat, and the result is that the planet grows and is happy.  What will happen, though, when the planet grows too big and begins to attract other objects to itself?  This is Orson’s dilemma, and he must decide what to do.  Such a quirky and unusual story must have illustrations to match, and this one certainly does.  Spare figures, lots of white and coloured space, pages of explosions, and muted colours all add up to a quite remarkable production.  As Orson makes his sad decision about what to do with his planet, we see that he already has ideas about his next project; he’s an irrepressible lad who ‘loves to make things’.