The SF Site Featured Review: Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim

Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim

Tom Corwin, illustrated by Craig Frazier

Flying Dolphin Press, 112 pages

Tom Corwin
Tom Corwin's credits include recording, producing, and performing (as a bass player and vocalist -- website) with such artists as Bonnie Raitt, Patti Labelle, Booker T., Kris Kristofferson, and Stevie Wonder. His CD, Mostly Dylan, which he also produced and arranged, was released in 2005. Tom is also the author of the bestselling book Mostly Bob, which was designed as a personal tribute to his beloved golden retriever, Bob, after his sudden passing. He lives in Mill Valley, California.

Craig Frazier
Craig Frazier is a graphic designer and an illustrator. He has received numerous awards and has been recognized internationally for his design. His work is in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. As an illustrator, he is a regular contributor to publications such as the New York Times, Time, Business Week, and Harvard Business Review. He has designed several stamps for the United States Postal Service including the 2006 "Love" stamp. He has published five children's books as well as a personal monograph. Craig is married and has two children. He lives and works in Mill Valley, California.

Publisher's page
AUDIO: Chaps. I-III read by author
REVIEWS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

A review by Georges T. Dodds

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Visually, Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim is a lovely book, the detailed line drawings of Craig Frazier, complementing the whimsical story of Mr. Fooster who goes on walking excursions armed with only his senses and an old bottle of soap with a bubble-making ring. But what bubbles! one becomes a vintage car, another an immense flying bird cage full of tropical fish. Mr. Fooster meets a lost newt, a giant insect, spends a winter as a tree, and meets an isolationist wall-builder.

The message that one should remain open-minded and spend more time observing and interacting with our natural surroundings is pretty clear, but after enjoying the whimsy of it all, one wonders what the point, beyond the obvious message, of the whole exercice was. My 12-year old daughter, whom I'd like to think hasn't yet been corrupted by adult cynicism, enjoyed the book, but also questioned the underlying message.

Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim is an interesting and visually pleasing little book, and satisfying if one enjoys whimsy for the sake of whimsy, but, given that it is targeted at adults (those generally most unwhimsical of creatures), the transparency of its message is a bit disappointing.

Georges Dodds is a research scientist whose interests lie predominantly in both English and French pre-1950 imaginative fiction. Besides reviews and articles at SFSite and in fanzines such as Argentus, Pulpdom and WARP, he has published peer-reviewed articles in fields ranging from folklore to water resource management. He is the creator and co-curator of The Ape-Man, His Kith and Kin a website exploring thematic precursors of Tarzan of the Apes, as well as works having possibly served as Edgar Rice Burroughs' documentary sources. The close to 100 e-texts include a number of first time translations from the French by himself and others. Georges is also the creator and curator of a website dedicated to William Murray Graydon (1864-1946), a prolific American-born author of boys' adventures. The website houses biographical, and bibliographical materials, as well as a score of novels, and over 100 short stories.