Smoke
by Peter Suart
MCCM Creations, $140
The central characters in Smoke are a young boy, Tik, and a dog called Twistleton Orlando Koterweiss (Tok, for short). They wake up one day to find they're famous, with the world's press intruding on their home on the beach (with typical Suart humour, a thumbnail in-text illustration of the cover of Smoke indicates it's the success of Smoke that's caused the frenzy). 'You're what the kids want and we're gonna give you to 'em. We're not leaving until we get what they want.'
Boy and dog flee from fame, meeting various people on their travels - the gentle man, the old man, the thin man, the pilot. They eventually find themselves back where they started, still besieged by the press; but they have changed. ''I think,' Snap! Snap!, said Tok, whirrrrrr ... snap! 'that we'll have' click-clack 'to sort this out' tap tap tap! 'ourselves'.'
Suart lived in Hong Kong from 1985 to 1999, working mainly in the performing arts. His graphic works have appeared in books and magazines, and some of his pictures are now in private collections in Britain. His illustrations are a delight. They add detail and feed additional quixotic humour to the story. The very young could read a version of the book from the pictures alone.