Starring Lorenzo, and Einstein Too
Young Lorenzo has always been curious; even as a baby, he wonders why his rattle falls down, not up. Then, when he is old enough, Lorenzo joins his family’s theater act, “The Fabulous Fortunatos.” But while his father juggles, his mother sings, and his sisters play the banjo and tell jokes, Lorenzo prefers to talk about numbers and his science projects. Then, following a performance, Lorenzo meets Albert Einstein. In a fanciful twist, the two take off in a spaceship and travel to far-off galaxies and wondrous planets. But Lorenzo misses his family, and with Einstein’s encouragement, he makes a dramatic stage appearance, delighting audience and family in a happy, reassuring reunion. With lyrical text, light humor, and compassion, Karlins fancifully celebrates imagination, individuality, and finding a place within one’s family. Incorporating playful perspectives and details, the color-washed, animated illustrations have a retro-cartoon vibe in scenes of Lorenzo with the iconically gray-maned-and-mustached Einstein in a silver spacesuit, who echoes the story’s celebration of science, learning, and family connections. Grades K-2. --Shelle Rosenfeld