This is a rather fabulous book I picked up from the French version of Amazon . Telling the tale of 3 children who have lost their mother, and who seek the help of their mad scientist neighbour when a thunderstorm erases their computer's disk of all traces of her. With his help they set off on a 'voyage extraordinaire au centre d'un ordinateur' in an attempt to find her.

The story itself is charming enough, but it's really brought to life by the fact that the book (in larger than A4 format) is fully illustrated throughout with wonderful montages of photography, modelling and computer drawn images which show the scenes they're experiencing in wonderful technicolour glory. Odd perspectives abound, as well as mad typography with changes of colour and font for emphasis and atmosphere. The whole is rather reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's films in parts, though obviously rather lighter.

The science is of course nonsense, and doesn't pretend to be more, but as a modern SF fairytale this is utterly delightful. ( )