Albie on His Way
by Jutta Bauer, Matthias Wieland (Translator)

4 out of 5 stars

The king asks Albie to deliver a message to the neighboring kingdom, but Albie gets delayed along the way. First a father squirrel needs help after a bad fall. Then a mother pig needs a babysitter while she goes shopping… for a week! Albie meets an old animal who walks very slowly, but they travel together for a while. Albie decides to take a different path through the mountains, and ends up right back in his own kingdom! By now so much time has passed, that the king decides that the message doesn’t matter after all.

This is such a funny book! Albie is so compassionate that he has to stop and help every creature he meets. Everyone is grateful and kind, but poor Albie does not get much further in his journey.

At the bottom of each page there is a running comic that shows what the king is doing back in his castle while Albie is travelling. The king takes a bath, walks his dog, eats dinner, gets married, has a baby, and then quarrels with his wife and she leaves! His dog dies and is buried while the king weeps over the grave. Then he gets a cat instead, and the cat gets some kind of medal.
I didn’t always understand exactly what was going on with the king. I think maybe his horse died too, and he is crying over the grave of his horse. I’m not really sure. The pictures aren’t always clear. But he doesn’t seem to care that his wife and child are gone. It’s kind of strange.

The illustrations are really cute and funny! Albie is so adorable, and I love his goofy grin. I liked the designs for all the animal characters. Every page is full of color and energy!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.