The Magic Rocket
by Steven Kroll
Holiday House, 1992

In The Magic Rocket by Steven Kroll, Hillenbrand was challenged by the expansive setting of stars and space. In this story of a small boy's rocket ride and encounter with aliens, Hillenbrand saw an opportunity to experiment with perspective and color.

He framed the earthbound scenes with the black night sky and used neon colors to make the spaceship scenes other worldly. Perspective, too, was widened and turned cockeyed to reflect the disorientation of space travel.

These adjustments heighten the fantasy of the journey and quicken the pace of the picture to match the rhythm of the story.

Reviews

From Horn Book: When Felix's dog, Atom, is kidnapped by an alien, Felix rockets to the rescue in his magic toy space ship.Pictures bordered by a starry night sky convey the excitement of an appealing, action-packed space adventure. -- Copyright © 1992 The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.