Whimsical, tender, and inventive; a complete delight.
Kaczka delivers a tender, imaginative children’s fantasy that blends emotional depth with playful surrealism. Six-year-old Mari-chan is heartbroken when her rock-climbing father goes missing in an Antarctic avalanche—until her magical stuffed bunny, Roboto Bunny, reveals a secret passage to the Underworld. To navigate the Underworld’s narrow tunnels, Mari-chan must become a baby. As she and Roboto Bunny confront clever trials and unexpected dangers, she discovers that courage, creativity, and kindness do not shrink with size—and may be strongest when we feel most small.
Kaczka uses an episodic structure to foreground problem-solving rooted in compassion, creativity, and attentiveness, deliberately moving away from physical force and toward vulnerability as a quiet but meaningful strength. The Underworld is whimsical and surreal, rich with mythic suggestion, though some episodes lean on repetition and familiar fantasy patterns. Even so, the emotional core—parent and child needing one another—holds steady. Mari-chan’s babyhood, first framed as a limitation, ultimately becomes her most inventive asset. A warm, inventive fantasy that blends adventure with an affirmation of vulnerability. Lovers of imaginative, emotionally grounded fantasy will find plenty to savor.
Pub date December 1, 2025
ISBN 979-8275108361
Pages 80
Price $14.99 (USD) Paperback, $4.99 Kindle edition
