A JOURNEY OF 600 INCHES

Paul and Maisie are stuck inside, and when Paul comments that their 600-inch-long home would feel pretty big to an ant, they find themselves shrinking.

In this Chinese import set during an unnamed public-health emergency that parallels the Covid-19 pandemic, readers can see empty streets out the window, figures in hazmat suits on TV, and the very recognizable boredom of two youngsters at home. So becoming tiny poses a grand adventure: Aunt Michelle will be arriving with lunch soon, and they need to cross 600 inches of landscape to reach the door. On the way, they encounter the Mouse King (who offers them masks), drive a toy car, and discover the Lost Toy Park under the sofa. Here the tone of the book shifts: Readers learn that the children’s mother has been gone for 10 days and that both parents are in the hospital. When the phone rings and it is Dad, depicted masked and in street clothes, surrounded by people in hazmat suits, readers breathe a sigh of relief: Dad and Mom may just work in the hospital. Yet the children seem completely alone, with both parents gone and a busy aunt who quickly drops off some food but doesn’t have time to stay. While the shrinking premise is fun and the poignancy of missing loved ones is handled sensitively, the situation may still cause young readers more uneasiness than comfort. Human characters depicted are Asian.

A Covid-19 story that doesn’t quite translate.