Bernard Pepperlin

Starred review from June 15, 2019
In this spinoff of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Dormouse longs to escape "liv[ing] forever at half past teatime." His chance comes when, during an argument with the March Hare and the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse is dropped in a teapot, and he is pulled by a strong current, swims through endless, bottomless liquid, and surfaces in a river beneath a bridge with huge, strange buildings on both shores. Of course this is modern-day New York City--or really two intertwining, parallel cities, one an accurate depiction of real places and the other populated by varieties of rodents, birds, bugs, and many other creatures, all living mostly unnoticed by almost all humans. They speak, wear clothes, have jobs, use their own transportation system, and enjoy interspecies friendships as well as share a dangerous common enemy. They welcome the Dormouse and introduce him to the delights and perils of this strange new world. Bernard, using his actual name for the first time ever, finds a sense of purpose in joining the fight to stop the dreaded Pork Pie Gang of weasels from achieving their goal of halting time. In this parallel New York City, Hoffman deftly creates a compellingly different kind of Wonderland, a place with its own set of realities and whose residents understand that, in spite of their differences, they are stronger together than apart. Everything a fantasy should be and more. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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September 2, 2019
In Hoffman’s whimsical debut, the Dormouse of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland lands in Manhattan after the irascible Mad Hatter shoves him into a porcelain teapot painted with the city’s skyline. Time has stopped in his homeland, where he’s been subjected to an endless tea party, so Bernard is thrilled to see a working clock in this “magnificent new world.” Soon, though, he learns that trouble is brewing in the metropolis, where the Pork Pie Gang of weasels is preparing to hold “The First, Last, and Only Endless Ukulele Concert,” which will stop time and force residents to do forever what the weasels do best: “nothing.” Determined to foil this nefarious plot, Bernard rallies the aid of a streetwise cat, escaped pets living in Manhattan’s underworld, and a troupe of cockroach musicians and tap dancers. Along with her obvious borrowings (there’s a blonde girl named Allie), Hoffman gives additional sly nods to Carroll’s classic (a queen in a red dress who runs a diner) and includes nonsensical verse of variable cleverness, creating a quirky flight of fancy with a rich lineage. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12.