One Day I Went Rambling by Kelly Bennett, illustrated by Terri Murphy
Ready for some Saturday fun? Turn off all those screens and power up with your ever-more powerful imagination instead! Come join Zane as he turns things ordinary into magical adventures! What Zane sees as a flying saucer’s crest, Lamar mistakenly calls a hubcap. No, Zane’s flying lasso is nothing like Beau’s strand of vine. And Zane’s shining band is definitely not Tran’s old pop top.
“‘You’re crazy!'” his friends insist. “‘It’s just a waste of time,'” they tell him about his rambling …
But Zane knows better as he continues to gather his “secret” stuff, all the while pretending not to see Scott, Jess, and Beau peeking around the corner. Pretty soon, Marj and Tran share his Spanish dancers’ fans while Jess pronounces his mighty warrior’s shield to be “cool.” Like the Pied Piper, Zane’s own zany fun gets all the kids rambling, as they discover a viper fang and priceless jewels along the way. As long as you’re willing to look with open minds, you’ll soon realize that treasures can be found anywhere and everywhere …
In our overly-connected 21st-century lives, we need to pull the plug and encourage the kiddies to explore their imaginations instead. Illustrator Terri Murphy ingeniously imbues Zane’s beckoning world (so rollickingly created by award-winning writer Kelly Bennett) with sparkly rich colors and a delightfully multi-culti cast, while she paints the nay-sayers in faded, near-black-and-white. The message is clear: go experience the richness of the outdoors instead of succumbing to the flattest dimensions.
That goes for us oldsters, too! Yup, even I’m about to take Zane’s advice: “time’s a-wasting. … We’ll explore the world together, finding adventure along the way.” Let’s go!
Readers: Children
Published: 2012
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