Book Review: The Clockwork’s Orange
The Clockwork’s Orange by E.P. Isaacs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reading The Clockwork’s Orange gave me a feeling of having found a long-lost treasure in an old trunk in the attic. This ‘old’ book speaks to me from a distance and the past, yet still somehow feels personal, as if it were trying to convey a message directly to me.
The cover art, the many illustrations scattered throughout the book, the songs, and the poetry have all been hand-crafted by author E.P. Isaacs. The artwork feels child-friendly and decidedly vintage. I’d love to sit down with a child and listen to them tell me about the pictures, and teach me to sing the songs. This attention to detail reminds me a little of the deliberately aged and filled with acquired history the authors of The Book of Speculation as well as S. (Ship of Theseus) instilled in their books. These are all books that have lived. These books were never new, not even on the day they were printed. The Clockwork’s Orange’s illustrations surely have been looked at by many generations of children. The poems must have been recited on playgrounds as children’s fleet feet danced over hopscotch grids.
Nika and her faithful companion, a … dog … named Postage, are travelers. Along their journey, they meet interesting people, animals and insects. Things are rarely as they seem. Things do not always work out well. These adventures were written for children. There’s messages carefully threaded throughout, ones that smart children and, hopefully their parents and older siblings and friends might also notice and think about.
Lori Alden Holuta
Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of Mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables and herbs when she’s not writing, editing, or playing games with a cat named Chives.
