THE QUEEN'S HANDBAG

In a second wacky tale about the British monarch, Antony shows the high jinks that ensue when the queen’s most precious accessory is snatched by a swan.

The cartoonish queen figure and her corgi give chase through the streets of London and all over Britain, pursued by an ever growing phalanx of uniformed police officers. From London, the energetic royal and her dog drive through Stonehenge, bike to the white cliffs of Dover, fly to Oxford, parachute into Snowdonia, navigate the Giant’s Causeway in a boat, catch a train past the Angel of the North to Edinburgh Castle, and ride back to London on horseback. The sneaky swan is finally apprehended at the finish line of the London Marathon. As in predecessor The Queen’s Hat (2015), the police appear to be identical, but on closer inspection there are amusing variations: a druid appears in Stonehenge, the Mad Hatter rides a bike, one wears a kilt and another’s in Union Jack underwear, and a camel and a panda can be found in the marathon crowd. Kids will enjoy the opportunities for Where’s Waldo–style observation in the neat, repetitive colored-pencil drawings, which continue from the cover throughout the book, including front and rear endpapers. Brief closing notes on the landmarks depicted follow the caper, but they won’t do much to fill in the gaps for readers unfamiliar with the geography.

A jolly British lark but with somewhat limited educational value.