The Lively Times of Dill, Will and Toucan Bill and Their Irresistible Friends
The Lively Times of Dill, Will and Toucan Bill and Their Irresistible Friends celebrate the spirit of creativity and of working together.
The story centers on the same spirited characters children loved in The Uncanny Adventures of Dill, Will and Toucan Bill. The plucky squirrel Dill continues to dream of adventures near and far. Will and Toucan Bill are her steadfast companions. Carla the Cloud is their personal carrier for wherever the three choose to go. The eight Red-Tailed Hawks that live nearby on the high terrace of a fancy Fifth Avenue building are ardent fans of Dill, Will and Toucan Bill and love getting involved with their projects.
Dill never goes anywhere without a big hamper of sandwiches or her glasses, or without her brush and comb that Toucan Bill uses regularly to keep her furry tail always looking lustrous and perfect. She always carries her World Geography Book, ready to give a lesson to curious children about the world’s cities, countries, rivers and mountains.
She is the leader of her pals but is completely open to ideas either of them might propose. When Toucan Bill suggests they visit the Queen of England she thinks, “That’s a crazy idea,” but she also thinks, “Why not?” “Let’s write to her and invite ourselves.” The hospitable Queen offers an invitation to tea and off they fly on Carla the Cloud to Buckingham Palace.
Dill is also a Dreamer. But as she dreams, she also does. She is a dreamer and doer.
Dill thinks it would be an adventure to open a restaurant in a big Elm Tree in Central Park and call it The Buckingham. She creates fanciful menus that draw her neighbors. Some of them happen to be friendly bears, cheery raccoons, curious turtles. Soon Dill, Will and Toucan Bill have a coterie of new friends. They become invaluable protectors when Dill’s next creation, The People’s Library, is trashed by book haters.
The king of Ranastan in faraway Asia hears of The People’s Library and invites Dill, Will, Toucan Bill and the Red-Tails to help him set up a book boat library to float around his watery kingdom and provide books to all the citizens. The project goes well until an angry ogre tries to upend the boat and sink it. Dill calms the ogre by showing him in her World Geography Book how vast his river is and how important it is to so many people. The ogre decides to reform his angry ways.
Still in Asia Dill learns her beautiful chestnut tree has been invaded by pushy crows who want to take it over. Dill, Will, Toucan Bill and the Red-Tails must race back to Central Park to save her home.
The story is full of imaginative twists and turns that not only entertain young readers but also stretch their horizons. The characters are a mixture of personalities that could be your friends and neighbors. They are proxies for friendship, diversity and ingenuity. They thrive on helping and supporting each other.
The Uncanny Adventures of Dill, Will and Toucan Bill
This book takes readers on exotic journeys devised by Dill and joyfully participated in by Will and Toucan Bill. They fly on Carla the Cloud to the Amazon Jungle of Brazil where Dill teaches local children about their neighbors in the vast South American continent. The trio then make a surprise visit to the Big Dipper and become fast friends with the leprechauns who dwell there. Enchanted by Marco Polo, whom Dill considers the most famous traveler of all time, she leads her friends to exotic towns and cities on the Silk Road in far off Asia. On the steppes of Kazakhstan, they enjoy the hospitality of two giant rabbits and later they visit the tomb of Tamerlane and share a huge picnic with the townspeople. The story invites children to enjoy travel, to embrace meeting new people, to like eating different foods and to experience different cultures
