If You Had a Jetpack
Author: Lisl Detlefsen
Illustrator: Linzie Hunter
Knopf Books for Young Readers
24 April 2018
32 pages

 

This month’s PB review is by Ryan G. Van Cleave (The Man Behind the Curtain at Only Picture Books) and Ringling College of Art and Design Illustration Professor John Herzog.

–Ryan’s Review of the Writing–

If You Had a Jetpack is predicated on one of those ideas that only the right type of imagination will recognize as potentially terrific (kid + jetpack = ?). Clearly Lisl Detlefsen is just such a writer.

In this story, a rabbit is bored, so it invents  …  a jetpack. His little brother gets jealous—as little brothers so often do when siblings have cool things—so older brother invents a second one, allowing them to embark together on adventures that only jetpack-​power can provide. The A‑then-​B-​then‑C linked progression of  the increasingly fantastical situations pleasantly echoes the structure of Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

One of the real treats in this story is how so many of the adults need a hand from these smart bunnies. For example, when little brother is left with Nana so big brother can visit the astronauts in space who ask for “help with a slight spaceship repair.” Enter the clever, industrious, jetpack-​creating bunny! For this effort, the President offers him a special medal at a ceremony with autographs, photos, and interviews. How does the inventor bunny handle it? “Modestly.”

Throughout this story, there are various adverbs (-ly words) like “patiently,” “bravely,” and “persistently.” These are always set off on the page to highlight their importance and to encourage readers to consider their meaning. Many of these words will be known by kid readers, but a few might provide a chance for a vocabulary increase (in a fun way!).

One final observation: this STEM-​friendly book is written in second person, so the empowering message is about these clever little bunnies, for sure, but equally about the profound creative capability within us all (“Putting it together might be tricky, but since you’re clever, you’d figure it out eventually.”).

Highly recommended and loads of fun for parents and youngsters alike.

4.25 out of 5 pencils

–John’s Review of the Illustrations–

In 2018, most people are unable to tell if a movie was shot on film or shot digitally. Over the last ten years, digital technology has arguably caught up to where analog technology has been for almost a century. So how does this relate to the picture book in question? Well, as I looked at the wonderful illustrations in If You Had a Jetpack, I was convinced that they were created using traditional means—paint, pencil, pastels, screenprinting, etc.

I was, to my delight, completely wrong. More on that in a moment.

As an illustrator, I know how incredibly difficult it is to maintain a style when you’re dealing with a variety of characters and locations. Linzie Hunter makes it look so easy here. Her characters inhabit this universe with an incredible appeal that’s not only fun but also appropriate to the story.

This book reads like a young child wrote it, and while the illustrations are done in a somewhat juvenile vein, they never feel pandering or desperate. The colors remind me of those prominently used by NASA designers in the late 60s/​early 70s, which adds even more appeal as it deals with classic “space age” technology. A few pages feel a bit too busy, which hinders the flow of the text a little. But it’s a minor complaint against an otherwise delightful picture book.

Back to technology—at the end of the book, it’s noted that the illustrations were created using Procreate on the iPad Pro. While I would’ve enjoyed this book no matter how the illustrations were created, this delighted me because these are my tools of choice as a professional illustrator. But the reality is that, with digital technology catching up to traditional media, the tools don’t matter as long as you have an understanding of the fundamentals and how to use the tools. Linzie Hunter has a great understanding of both, and I’m excited to see more from her.

4 out of 5 crayons

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