Probuditi!

"[Signature] Reviewed by Jim McMullanThe magic in Van Allsburg's new book Probuditi! has been domesticated. Instead of supernatural powers sending rhinos charging through the living room, as in Jumanji, or spacemen falling through the ceiling, as in Zathura, Calvin, the protagonist of Probuditi!, employs a simple magician's trick to set the story in motion.Calvin and his buddy Rodney attend a performance by Lomax the Magnificent where the magician, by means of a rotating spiral disc, hypnotizes a woman and convinces her that she is a chicken. At the end of the show, Lomax says, 'Probuditi!' and the woman snaps out of her trance. Inspired, Calvin makes his own rotating disc and manages to hypnotize his sister, Trudy, into thinking that she's a dog. Calvin and Rodney thoroughly enjoy Trudy's canine antics until they realize that Calvin's mom will soon be home, and they can't remember the magic word to reverse the spell. After several frantic dehypnotizing tries, it all works out with a little quiet help from Trudy.Although I miss the sense of otherworldly beauty that Van Allsburg achieved in some of his earlier books, particularly The Wreck of the Zephyr, the vaudevillian spirit of Probuditi! gives the artist a chance to make some very funny pictures. The lady Lomax hypnotizes struts around an imaginary barnyard like a crazed hen who happens to be wearing pearls and high heels. Trudy laps water from a bowl on the floor with almost embarrassing relish, and squats expectantly like a goofy golden retriever. All the characters and the scenes they inhabit seem to come from some iconic 1940s smalltown childhood, which is made all the more nostalgic by the artist wrapping them in a haze of luminosity. This typical 'Van Allsburg light' is so effective in the way that it leavens the painstaking solidity of his illustrations and connects the details in a convincing atmosphere. So even though he is not using his light to bathe the classic simplicity of a sailboat floating through the sky, the light in these pictures still works to create the glow that we have come to expect in a Van Allsburg book and to give this homespun tale the quality of a remembered dream.The story of Probuditi! may not involve spacemen or exotic transformations, but it's still about the lure of magic and, this time, it's a magic that maybe any kid can make with a spiral disc and a gullible friend. All ages. Jim McMullan, known for his Lincoln Center Theater posters, has most recently illustrated the picture book I'm Dirty! (HarperCollins/Cotler, Sept.), written by his wife, Kate McMullan, and starring a backhoe loader." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The nostalgic...sepia-tone artwork is eye-catching...it will draw kids into the story with angled, theatrical images.

Magnificent sepia-toned art...works magic with people, place and predicament. A delicious tale about just desserts.

Imagine how tempting it might be to be able to hypnotize your little sister.

Chris Van Allsburg, a master of surprise endings, wraps a captivating story in lush, warm full-page illustrations in pencil over pastels in burnt sienna that ooze the heat of a summer day in the early 1940s.

After a trip to see Lomax the Magnificent (magician and hypnotist extraordinaire!), Calvin and his friend Rodney try out their own hypnotizing machine on Calvin's sister Trudy. Illustrations.After a trip to see Lomax the Magnificent (magician and hypnotist extraordinaire!), Calvin and his friend Rodney try out their own hypnotizing machine on Calvin's sister Trudy. Illustrations.

For his birthday, Calvin's mother gives him two tickets to see Lomax the Magnificent (magician and hypnotist extraordinaire!). Even though Mama hints that his little sister, Trudy, would love to go, Calvin doesn't hesitate to invite his friend Rodney instead.

The boys return home greatly impressed by the magician's performance. When Calvin's mother goes out, she leaves him in charge of Trudy. It's a job Calvin dislikes because his sister does not want to be left out of anything. So Calvin and Rodney include her—by making her the first subject for their own hypnotizing machine.

Much to the boys' surprise, the machine works. But unfortunately they cannot undo what they have done. Trudy is stuck in her trance, convinced she is a dog—panting, drooling, and barking at squirrels. The only problem is, Calvin can't remember Lomax's magic word—Probuditi!—so Trudy won't snap out of it!

The boys are worried and decide to take Trudy to the one man they know can solve their problem—but will Lomax help them? Mama is on her way home . . . Who will have the last laugh?

After a trip to see Lomax the Magnificent, Calvin and his friend Rodney try out their own hypnotizing machine on Calvin's sister Trudy--who now thinks she's a dog! Can Calvin undo the spell before his mother gets home? Can he remember the magic word? "Probuditi!"