THE LOST GALUMPUS

Two strange creatures turn up in Gilly’s bog during a blizzard, very far from their homes.

Gilly, short for Gilligan, narrates this broadly comic time-travel escapade involving residents of the bog in the Twin Cities’ Theodore Wirth Park. Gilly is a wryly observant possum who, as assistant to the raccoon Mayor Crawdaddy, gets tasked with things that are too difficult or taxing for the mayor to take on. In other words, just about anything. When a young woolly mammoth from 10,000 years in the past and a park ranger robot from an equally distant future turn up in the midst of the snowstorm, Gilly and the mayor, along with Gilly’s human friend, Ruth, and an ambitious red squirrel, the Earl of Sussex, team up to find the temporal vortex before it closes. Twigs, the somewhat petulant woolly mammoth, seems to be hiding a secret that makes him reluctant to return home, and the slightly damaged Smokey 3000 Park Ranger is running out of power. Close behind are three animal-skin–wearing humans who come through the portal in pursuit of Twigs, or at least, of his tusks, and who gather souvenirs by breaking into houses—a lampshade, a toaster, and a painting of a sunset. Gilly’s voice is droll—a bit cynical and quite appealing—and the madcap collection of players is amusingly cinematic. Lugo’s charming and expressive black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout.

A diverting mix of animal fantasy and time travel.