Paradise Sands

A Story of Enchantment

by Levi Pinfold

Review posted May 17, 2024.
Candlewick Studio, 2022. 40 pages.
Review written January 31, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

This picture book beautifully continues in the tradition of Chris Van Allsburg, eerie and beautiful and full of magic. It's not a book for preschoolers, but elementary school students will love the creepy innuendos.

A girl and her three brothers drive off into a desert, singing a nonsense rhyme their mother used to sing for them. Or is it nonsense? The girl notices that they're doing the things mentioned in the song.

When they find a grand palace, she doesn't "sip from the chalice" like her brothers do.

And it ends up being up to her to save her brothers.

The art in this book is magnificent and eerie and is perfect for this unsettling adventure.