Dalmartian: A Mars Rover Story, written and illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins, has the same setup as the film E.T.: a crew of alien botanists is interrupted while collecting samples, and in the rush to escape, one of their number is left behind. In this case, though, the aliens look like dogs and are white with lime green markings. A boy, Stephen, finds the stranded alien, and the interactions between him and his “guest” are played for wry humor.

In this book, we find excellence of pictorial interpretation and skillful delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, and mood through the pictures. The illustrations lead the way — the whole story is in the images — and the reserved text plays the straight man, adding humor. “It went over well,” is, by itself, not much of a sentence, but accompanying a full spread closeup of the alien’s face — grinning, eyes wide, and ears turned into strips of bacon — it’s funny.

We see a lot of tightly controlled palettes in picture books, but the way the limited palette is employed here is fresh and distinctive. The images are rendered in ink and charcoal and then finished digitally. The lines are strong — bold, thick, and predominantly straight. Cummins adds a great deal of charcoal shading, which, along with the heavy lines, could weigh the images down, but mixed with blocks of lime green, lemon yellow, and sunny orange, the charcoal adds depth and texture that tones down the vibrancy. The art strikes a balance: it’s fanciful, inviting, and clear without tumbling over the edge into garishness.

Dalmartian is a piece of science fiction meant for five-year-olds, and like all good science fiction, it’s a metaphor that can be read many ways. It’s about welcoming a new pet into one’s life, sure, but it can be read as welcoming anyone new in — a friend, a sibling, a cousin, a stepparent. The book is funny and light, but there’s something real here, too.

Last, I’d like to point out the details in these deceptively simple spreads. There’s the look of anxiety on the alien’s face when he first agrees to enter Stephen’s home. There’s the ball under Stephen’s bed that reappears a few page-turns later. Notice that the control board of the spaceship has a device shaped like a paw, and then smile over the final spread — my favorite! — in which we see the alien reading on the toilet while the water in the sink is running to cover up the sounds of his business. It’s a book that rewards attention and repeat readings.

This amusing, quiet, crowd-pleaser of a book looks simple but, like anyone new who comes into one’s life, reveals layers the more time one spends with it.

[Read The Horn Book Magazine review of Dalmartian]