Continuing the masterful reboot of his Squire’s Tales for younger audiences, Morris takes his favorite knight from “Sir Gawain the Undefeated” to “Sir Gawain the Once Defeated” and thence to the titular moniker. All the while, he delivers wry and perceptive commentary on both the hazards of reckless vows and the profound importance of courtesy. It all begins when the self-absorbed Gawain slays a dragon and shrugs off the gratitude of the damsel he has just rescued. Shortly thereafter he’s tricked into agreeing to let a huge green giant knight cut off his head in a year’s time and just after that finds himself locked into a battle (supposedly) to the death with a good friend who is also “undefeated.” Being a quick learner, Gawain survives both challenges thanks to his discovery that common sense, good manners and a dash of humility go a long way toward solving problems and minimizing the body count. Enhanced by Renier’s lighthearted medieval scenes—including two notable views of the heavily armored Gawain in bunny slippers—Morris' yarn weaves clever turns, knightly violence and chivalric (i.e., human) values in action into an ingeniously integrated retelling of “Gawain and the Green Knight” and other episodes from the Arthurian canon. Worthy reading for all budding squires and damsels. (Fantasy. 9-11)
Pub Date: April 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-41855-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
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A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme.
An age-old rivalry is reluctantly put aside when two young vacationers are lost in the wilderness.
Anthropomorphic—in body if definitely not behavior—Dogg Scout Oscar and pampered Molly Hissleton stray from their separate camps, meet by chance in a trackless magic forest, and almost immediately recognize that their only chance of survival, distasteful as the notion may be, lies in calling a truce. Patterson and Grabenstein really work the notion here that cooperation is better than prejudice founded on ignorance and habit, interspersing explicit exchanges on the topic while casting the squabbling pair with complementary abilities that come out as they face challenges ranging from finding food to escaping such predators as a mountain lion and a pack of vicious “weaselboars.” By the time they cross a wide river (on a raft steered by “Old Jim,” an otter whose homespun utterances are generally cribbed from Mark Twain—an uneasy reference) back to civilization, the two are BFFs. But can that friendship survive the return, with all the social and familial pressures to resume the old enmity? A climactic cage-match–style confrontation before a worked-up multispecies audience provides the answer. In the illustrations (not seen in finished form) López plops wide-eyed animal heads atop clothed, more or less human forms and adds dialogue balloons for punchlines.
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-41156-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Epic—in plot, not length—and as wise and wonderful as Gerald Morris’ Arthurian exploits.
Who needs dragons when there are Terrible Lizards to be fought?
Having recklessly boasted to King Arthur and the court that he’d slain 40 dragons, Sir Erec can hardly refuse when Merlin offers him more challenging foes…and so it is that in no time (so to speak), Erec, with bookish Sir Hector, the silent and enigmatic Black Knight, and blustering Sir Bors with his thin but doughty squire, Mel, in tow, are hewing away at fearsome creatures sporting natural armor and weapons every bit as effective as knightly ones. Happily, while all the glorious mashing and bashing leads to awesome feats aplenty—who would suspect that a ravening T. Rex could be decked by a well-placed punch to the jaw?—when the dust settles neither bloodshed nor permanent injury has been dealt to either side. Better yet, not even the stunning revelation that two of the Three Stooges–style bumblers aren’t what they seem (“Anyone else here a girl?”) keeps the questers from developing into a well-knit team capable of repeatedly saving one another’s bacon. Phelan endows the all-white human cast with finely drawn, eloquently expressive faces but otherwise works in a loose, movement-filled style, pitting his clanking crew against an almost nonstop onslaught of toothy monsters in a monochrome mix of single scenes and occasional wordless sequential panels.
Epic—in plot, not length—and as wise and wonderful as Gerald Morris’ Arthurian exploits. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-268623-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
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