One Potato Review

That a pretty thin premise should yield such magnificent amusement is a credit to this criminally under-rated author and illustrator, whose visual elaborations – of a bustling suburban restaurant, but also New York City monoliths, ziggurats, pagodas, and the snaky, dysfunctional plumbing that (barely) holds everything together – appear to be loaded with springs. A boy chases down the famous but unreachable J.P. Pettifog (“If you water is knee deep, please leave a message after the beep”) to come fix a clog at Tina’s famous establishment, but Adinolfi packs so much eventfulness into each of his stops and near-misses that the effect is almost Odyssean. With helicopters, parachutes, and finally apprenticing alligators worthy of Dr. Seuss. High times.