Flidderbugs - Jonathan Gould

Flidderbugs is a kids' book that's more than that.

Kriffle is a bug who lives with his family and their fellow Triplifers on one side of the Krephiloff Tree.  On the other side live the Quadrigons. Triplifers and Quadrigons are involved in a longstanding quarrel over how many points a Krephiloff Tree leaf has, and the quarrel has defined the political debate in the bugs' Fleedenhall.

Kriffle's father is unable to attend the latest debate in the Fleedenhall, so he sends Kriffle in his stead.  In the process, Kriffle learns many things -- about politics, about the number of points on a leaf, and about the dangers of holding an entrenched position about anything.

I liked Gould's Doodling, as you know, and so I figured I'd like Flidderbugs, as well.  And I did think this book was cute, but I found the political satire perhaps a touch heavy-handed.  But then, I'm an adult, and so I'm not really the intended age group for this book.  I think a child wouldn't have a problem with it, and would probably very much enjoy Flidderbugs.

Doodling - Jonathan Gould

This is another of the books that I won as a prize at the end of 2011, but didn't get around to reading 'til last year.

Neville Lansdowne is our hapless Everyman.  The modern world simply moves too fast for him, so he lets go and falls off.  Really.  He literally lets go, and falls off into space. Pretty soon, he finds himself adrift in an asteroid field.  When he spots an asteroid with a flag planted on it, he lands on it -- and that's when his adventure really begins.

This is a very much a novella -- just 68 pages on my Nook -- so it's a quick read, but but it's fun.  It's absurd in the same way that Alice in Wonderland is absurd, and it's a send-up of modern life in the same way as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I quite enjoyed Doodling -- it's a cute little book.