Told entirely in rhyming couplets, Toronto (by way of Vancouver and the U.K.) author Robert Paul Weston’s Zorgamazoo is a story rich in clever wordplay, unusual characters, and fantastic circumstances. Katrina Katrell is a clever and feisty young girl left by absentee parents in the care of a wicked guardian, Mrs. Krabone, a figure right out of one of the darker Brothers Grimm fairytales. Fleeing Mrs. Krabone and a lobotomy intended to bring her capricious ways under control, Katrina meets Morty, a “zorgle” (a horned, hairy, tie-wearing creature), who is trying to find out what happened to the missing zorgles of Zorgamazoo. Katrina and Morty join forces, and the adventure careens on through the new friends’ flight from the “real” world into Zorgamazoo, and on to the moon.

The book’s illustrations, by Spanish artist Victor Rivas, are reminiscent of the oval-eyed, twiggish vulnerability of Tim Burton’s creations, and the details of the story traverse some of the same dark territory. The visuals help sell a tale that occasionally hiccups with competing fantastic details, never really lingering long enough on any character or event to fully connect with the reader. While the book ends on a happy note (naturally), there is real peril lurking within the narrative, not entirely dispelled by the Seussian language and at times challenging wordplay.