Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Travel the World: Belgium: Lovey and Dovey


van Lieshout, Elle and Erik van Os. Lovey and Dovey. Illustrated by Miles van Hout. Boyds Mill Press. 2009.

This is an odd but oddly charming, thoroughly unique picture book originally published in Belgium. It is the story of two love birds, love birds who happen to be jail birds too. Their crime? Stealing a pair of blue socks from the corner sock shop. (You'll notice Lovey is wearing one and so is Dovey.) Dovey--the gentleman robber--loves taking care of his woman, Lovey. And if that means sneaking through the bars each night and stealing...well, whatever it takes. What does Dovey steal? The sun, the moon, the stars...and a whole lot more besides. Soon their jail cell is their idea of heaven on earth. I won't go into all the details on this one--but it's cute. Maybe not traditionally cute...after all...how many picture books about happy-go-lucky prisoners are there?


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

2 comments:

Debi said...

Oh my goodness, this sounds absolutely adorable! Is all the artwork as charming as the cover?

Becky said...

Debi, the artwork is very cute. I loved how different Lovey and Dovey were. There is a whole story being told in the artwork that is never told in the text. And it's this second story I actually prefer.