Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

When a little alien named Beegu - who looks rather like a three-eyed yellow rabbit, with long floppy ears - crash lands on Earth, she has trouble making herself understood by the locals, who seem either indifferent or unfriendly. Lost and alone, she searches for a place of shelter in this unwelcoming place, eventually finding a warm bed with a group of puppies, left in a box outside an animal shelter. But even this refuge is denied her, in the morning, when the shelter worker reacts poorly to finding this strange creature on his doorstep. Wandering once again, Beegu encounters a group of schoolchildren on the playground, who warmly welcome her into their midst - until the grownup in charge puts a stop to it. Will Beegu ever find a place to belong? Will her mother ever come for her...?

The second picture-book I have read from Alexis Deacon (the first being Slow Loris ) - an English author/artist whose work has been strongly recommended to me by a friend and fellow children's literature enthusiast - Beegu is a deceptively simple story, one that flawlessly blends word and image to create a poignant tale of being adrift in a strange new world. Beegu is just so cute that I want to reach into the book, and give her a big warm hug! I liked the fact that Deacon, despite making his little alien so appealing, also keeps her alien: she doesn't really understand the "rules" of this new place, trying to talk to flying leaves, and thinking that the ringing of a telephone is her mother calling. On the other hand, she does understand the important things, and when her parents eventually do rescue her, she informs them that "Earth creatures were mostly big and unfriendly, but there were some small ones who seemed hopeful."