"My soul would be an outlaw," begins the storyteller in this short tale of the timeless war between Conformity and Rebellion, in the guise of the Master Timekeeper (a.k.a. the Ticktockman) and the renegade Harlequin. In a completely regulated society, where being a minute late here and there shortens your life accordingly, the Ticktockman is king; Harlequin is the jellybean joker who wants to knock him from his perch. Rick Berry's dark, lush illustrations magnify the force of a story that reminds readers of the best parts of George Orwell's 1984 or Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
"My soul would be an outlaw," begins the storyteller in this short tale of the timeless war between Conformity and Rebellion, in the guise of the Master Timekeeper (a.k.a. the…