THE WIZARD

Lit with a greenish glow, elaborately detailed digital paintings give a properly eerie setting to this shortened version of a poem originally published in Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1976). In a book-strewn workroom atop a stone tower that looms crookedly over an otherwise ordinary modern suburban neighborhood, a Saruman-ish wizard with long black nails idly transforms a passing bullfrog into a flea, a pair of mice, a cockatoo and other shapes. Then he leans out of his window to select his next victim (maybe you) from among the ant-like figures on the street below. Closing with a ground-level view of a surprised-looking chameleon clinging to a skateboard and the suggestion that “Should you encounter a toad or lizard, look closely . . . / it may be the work of a wizard,” Dorman’s debut makes an atmospheric opener for any magic-themed storytime. (Picture book. 6-8)