October | 2020 | Eric Lahti

Here’s a fun fact about me: When my son was little, he wanted me to read Dr. Seuss’s Fox In Socks every night for months. If you’ve ever read Fox In Socks, it was Seuss’s attempt to punish the world for wanting to read to their kids. It’s one long, absolutely brutal tongue twister. Imagine stumbling around drunk in the darkness while Luke Luck, his duck, and a mass of tweetle beetles are putting clothespins on your tongue. And then laughing at you when you try to talk. That’s Fox In Socks.

Amazingly, I got pretty good at it after a few months. By that time, I’d mostly memorized the book and had enough practice to know when to slow down and when to speed up and what places were gotchas.

Now my son is older and unless things get blowed up real good, he’s not interested. As a result, I don’t look into children’s books anymore unless something slides across the table at me.

Hence, Poppy Ogopogo.

First up, for those who don’t know, the Ogopogo is a lake monster in a Canada whose sightings go back over a century. Whether the critter is real or not, it’s usually described as a long, snakelike creature that does sinister things like swimming in a lake without a permit. Canadians are big on lake swimming permits.

Poppy Ogopogo, like a lot of children’s books, is a collaborative affair with words by Susan Faw and art by Alison Baker-Rasmussen. In children’s stories, the art is just as important as the words and must match with the text. It wouldn’t do to have a sweeping, epic tale of love at first sight and have all the pictures be charcoal drawings of demons. Unless it was about falling in love with a demon, but that probably won’t be a children’s story any time soon.

Instead of a story about demons, Poppy Ogopogo is perfectly matched tale of an Ogopogo who just wants some friends and the butterflies who make fun of her for not being a butterfly paired with gorgeous art to bring the characters and actions to life. It also confirmed my bias that butterflies are total jerk-faces.

By and by, catastrophe happens and Poppy finds herself in a conundrum. Whether or not to save the butterflies who treat her much like Luke Luck and those damned tweetle beetles treated me. It’s the perfect lesson to teach children and teach them early. And often, if the state of the world is any indication.

If you want to know what choice Poppy makes, you’ll just have to buy the book. It’s a great tale for young kids, especially those who might have an interest in xenobiology (yes, it’s a thing). But even those kids who probably wouldn’t want to spend their lives hunting down Ogopogos, Sasquatches, and Chupacabras should still be able to get into the vibe of beautifully-written story and the gorgeous artwork.

Poppy Ogopogo isn’t beautiful like the butterflies that live on the shores of the lake. Their mean laughter makes her sad, so instead she plays with her imaginary friends.

One day, the butterflies are swept out into the lake. Will Poppy forgive those who hurt her and become a hero?

Or will she leave them to their cruel fate?