OKAPI TALE
by Jacob Kramer ; illustrated by K-Fai Steele
Noodlephant, Beaston’s beloved, pachydermatous pasta connoisseur, must return from a trip abroad to help her friends reclaim the town’s pasta machine from the nasty Okapi-talist.
The sequel to Noodlephant (2019) skillfully summarizes the previous book in its opening sentences. Just as in Noodlephant, humor in both the text and artwork cushions a morality tale that promotes democratic socialism. There are also silly and often not-quite-scanning—but heartfelt—songs and chants. Noodlephant leaves Beaston (formerly Rooville) to learn about noodles in Japan and China, excitedly acquiring “extra-extra large” geta for her feet and recipes for such noodles as soba and biang biang. Her trip is cut short when she learns that the greedy mayor of Beaston, a kangaroo, sold the town-owned pasta machine to the Okapi. Most residents must work in the Okapi’s polluting pasta factory to afford purchases from the Okapi’s other, newly acquired, businesses. Noodlephant returns upon seeing a box of Okapi-branded pasta in a Chinese market, and she and her friends stage actions and even a factory sabotage before the mayor is impeached and the Okapi is sent packing. Readers will note that the text asserts that “the kangaroos”—not some kangaroos—are both xenophobic and unhappy about their loss of special privileges, but the art subverts this by showing some kangaroos who seem perfectly happy with Beaston’s new egalitarian ways. Nevertheless, text and art are charming and accessible.
More fun with Beaston’s favorite beast.
(Picture book. 4-9)