Fun with Words and Stories: Otto: A Palindrama and The Ice Cream Machine

Otto tells an extended story with pictures and palindromes, while The Ice Cream Machine spins six stories off one title prompt.

Otto: A Palendrama by Jon Agee. Dial, 2021, 141 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10

Recommended for: ages 6-12

A Palindrama is “A thrilling series of events told entirely in palindromes—words or phrases that read exactly the same forward or backward.” Thus warned, the reader will have to rely on pictures to follow young Otto through this adventure. It starts with a quiet family meal and dissolves to a scene at the beach, where Otto spies a large rodent with a surfboard. “Was that a rat I saw?” he asks his dad, who replies, “No, son.” When Otto’s pup, Pip, takes off after the rat, the boy is plunged into a series of improbable circumstances that take him across the desert, to the city, into the ocean, through a cave, and finally back home to a joyful reunion: “Mom! Dad!”

It was all a dream! Given the story limitations, it probably had to be. Everything is a palindrome, even license plates, ads, labels, and book titles. Some are impressively long (No one made killer apparel like Dame Noon) and others only make sense with the illustration (Gustav Klimt milk vats? Ugh!). But as you can imagine, they’re great fun, and could inspire some palindrome ambitions at your house.

Overall Rating: 4

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4

The Ice Cream Machine by Adam Rubin and various illustrators. G. Putnam’s Sons, 2022, 357 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 8-14

The author begins with the idea that “Writing is Magic,” exploring the (admittedly magical) idea that words on a page can connect the writer with readers who may be decades later and half a world away. Even more: “Writing enchants you to see things and feel things that don’t really exist.” (Although they must exist in some Platonic dimension, or how could readers see and feel them? But that’s a question for another time.) To prove his point, he proceeds with six stories titled “The Ice Cream Machine.” (“The one with the one-armed robot,” “The one with the genius inventor,” “The one with the sorcerer’s assistant,” etc.) The last Ice Cream Machine story is “The one that hasn’t been written yet,” because it’s time for you, reader, to get off your duff and write one. The author offers some tips and invites all stories to be sent his way, c/o the publisher. Well, why not?

As one who prefers longer stories, I wasn’t especially enchanted by these, but they’re fun and could inspire a reader to try and do better. Again, why not? Six illustrators, one for each story, provide black & white illustrations.

Overall rating: 3.75

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic/literary value: 4

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Review: Geoff Rodkey’s Stuck in the Stone Age is a short course in story writing that doubles as a time-travel adventure.
• Reviews: Picture books about writing from three well-known children’s authors: Sally Lloyd Jones’ Look! I Wrote a Book!, Kate Messner’s How to Write a Story, and Sara Varon’s My Pencil and Me.
• Resource: Read my tips on story-writing while reading along with The Middle of Somehwere.

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