The Loonies Arrive

Kelly L. Green is co-author of The Ethical Shopper’s Guide to Canadian
Supermarket Products and associate editor of the Canadian Book Review
Annual.

The Minpins and The Borrowers meet Pippi Longstocking? The Loonies do
carry on the slightly twisted perspective developed in these earlier
classics of children’s fantasy literature, but this is not to say that
Christiane Duchesne’s weird and wonderful tale is derivative! Young
Christopher Thomas, whose life is invaded one sleepless night by five
tiny little men (the tallest of whom is only three centimetres high), is
just as alive and kicking as Pippi, or Alice, or Lucy of The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe. Christopher, like other unforgettable
characters, has discovered a world of his own with his Loonies, a world
the reader is privileged to enter. Like Christopher, the reader will
find the Loonies (Elvin, Casimir, Gomeral, Apollino, and Zenon)
irresistible. We are just as distressed as Christopher when we fear his
mother has swept them up in the vacuum cleaner, and just as relieved
when he pulls them out of the bag, dusty and disgusting, but still
breathing. And we are touched and tickled by their devotion to
“Chief,” as they call Christopher, which is demonstrated by feats of
courage and daring (such as the retrieval of a soccer ball from a
restaurant).

Sarah Cummins’s translation of Duchesne’s work is beautifully done,
remaining so true to idiomatic English that it is hard to believe one is
reading a translation. (I’d love to know the French word for
“snivelling.”) A perfect first novel for 7- to 9-year-olds to read
to themselves, the plot is just suspenseful enough to keep the reader
going, without causing anxiety. Marc Mongeau’s tilted, slightly
out-of-proportion illustrations are just right for this loony bin. Once
encountered, the Loonies will not be forgotten. Highly recommended.