Here’s something a bit different for our book of the day.
Terrific is a picture book that Daniel
Handler praises as a work of visual and textual art. Picture books should be embraced by adult readers too, says
Handler, and points to Jon Agee’s tale of Eugene Mudge as a perfect example. And lucky for us travel bookworms,
Terrific unfolds as an offbeat adventure, when grumpy Eugene wins an all-expenses-paid cruise to Bermuda. That
first “terrific” stroke of luck leads to a series of unfortunate events that finds Eugene shipwrecked on a deserted
island with a witty parrot. And that’s just the beginning — this humorous, sarcastic tale has something for each of us
— young and old alike. View pictures from the book and listen to Agee read the first few pages at this
NYT audio interactive.