A newly minted knight goes from zero to hero—at least in his own mind.
Young squire Roderick is ready for knightly fame—as soon as he finds a sword he can lift, that is, and can rid himself of a tendency to wail when his horse moves.
Having had more practice in cleaning up pigeon poo and talking to peasants than fencing and jousting, Roderick might seem ill-prepared to join the knights of Doddingford Castle in a quest to recover the stolen fingers of St. Stephen. But it’s those very experiences that get him into rival Froddington Castle and away with the holy digits when his armored compatriots are stymied. Filtered through Roderick’s ever optimistic eyes—and supplemented both by backmatter and by frequent historical side comments labeled “Get Real”—the story affords readers glimpses of martial training, chivalric values, peasant revolts, castle life, King Arthur, medieval torture, the Black Death, and various related topics…not to mention siege warfare when the knights of Froddington follow to recover the revered relics. Once the discovery is made that there are actually 14 holy fingers and three thumbs, news of more missing relics sends Sir Roderick on to further chances for knightly glory. Though the cast here is all white in Horne’s occasional ink-and-wash drawings and composed of conventional comedic types, a Brit-centric closing gallery loosely dubbed “Knight Hall of Fame” does include Wat Tyler, along with Saladin, Joan of Arc, and Gutenberg. Companion title The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Pirate publishes simultaneously and in the same vein.
A newly minted knight goes from zero to hero—at least in his own mind. (afterword, glossary, timeline) (Historical farce. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63163-137-5
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake.
Promising myth-adventures aplenty, this kickoff episode introduces young Zeus, “a very special, yet clueless godboy.”
After 10-year-old Zeus is plucked from his childhood cave in Crete by armed “Cronies” of the Titan king, Cronus, he is rescued by harpies. He then finds himself in a Grecian temple where he acquires a lightning bolt with the general personality of a puppy and receives hints of his destiny from an Oracle with fogged eyeglasses. Recaptured and about to be eaten by Cronus, Zeus hurls the bolt down the Titan’s throat—causing the king to choke and then, thanks to an alert Crony’s Heimlich maneuver, to barf up several previously eaten Olympians. Spooning in numerous ingredients from the origin myth’s traditional versions, the veteran authors whip up a smooth confection, spiced with both gross bits and contemporary idiom (“ ‘Eew!’ a voice shrieked. ‘This is disgusting!’ ”) and well larded with full-page illustrations (not seen). One thorough washing later, off marches the now-cocky lad with new allies Poseidon and Hera, to rescue more Olympians in the next episode.
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5787-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
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