http://www.sfsite.com/08a/ft277.htm ( )

So... I'm not really sure what to make of this book. Mr. Fooster decides to go for a walk one day, and ponders questions such as How do mandarin oranges come in perfect little segments without any mechanical engineering? and How come we never see baby pigeons? while he's walking. He then decides to sit for a spell, and blows a bubble with a wand which becomes a car that he drives home, and then decides to sell on eBay and give the proceeds to his favorite charity.

That's chapter one.

Huh? (You probably have this same expression on your face right now). Yeah, I felt the same way.

I think the book is supposed to be about how you shouldn't take yourself too seriously and ponder the little things in life, and in doing this, you won't be tied down to your boring, overly-serious earthly existence (ask the bug who was eating his way across the world, discovered his folly through the bubble blowing magic of Mr. Fooster and floated off into space and ended up somewhere around Alpha Centauri - no kidding. What's in those bubbles, and did Mr. Fooster get it from Alice's Caterpillar?).

Maybe I'm too tired from an entire day spent at the hospital so my mom could have a 20 minute hand surgery, but the book seemed to be aiming at being clever and introspective, but seemed to miss the mark just a little.

The illustrations were nice. In fact, I was more interested in the graphic design elements used in the book's construction that were mentioned in the back of the book.

I don't know what rating to give it either. It's not bad, but it isn't anything note worthy either. Hence, 3(ish) stars. I guess that's somewhere around the middle. ( )

In this slim volume you will find the eye opening story of Mr. Fooster's travels. He goes for walks with seemingly no purpose but to see what he will see. Along the way he has interesting and surprising encounters and makes good use of his old bottle of bubble soap.

The author has written a lovely tale that encourages adults to think outside the box and try to remember the wonder and imagination that we had as children. As we grow up we forget to stop and really look at things and we forget to ask questions. In so doing, we miss opportunities that we might have had, were we more open-minded.

The lyric prose is accompanied by Craig Frazier's lovely sepia toned pen and ink illustrations that enhance the story. You can see Mr. Fooster brought to life at the website (http://www.mrfooster.com/) ! ( )

http://www.book-blog.com/2008/03/corwin-tom-mr-f.html ( )