How to Be a Pirate We listened to this, the sequel to
How to Train Your Dragon, on a recent car trip. It follows Hiccup, a Norse boy of around 9-10 years of age, who's rather sensitive and small for his age, and not at all the great Viking warrior his father, the chief of their tribe, envisions as his heir. Similarly, all the men and boys in the tribe have dragons, and Hiccup's dragon is Toothless, a wispy, cowardly, and not-at-all-fearsome creature--more of a winged lizard, really.
On this adventure, the Viking band comes across the coffin of their fearsome ancestor, Grimbeard the Ghastly, only for a character named Alvin to pop out of the coffin, claiming to have found a map with directions to Grimbeard's legendary treasure. If you guessed Alvin might not have the best of intentions at heart, you guessed correctly.
Actually, if you guessed anything about this book, you probably guessed correctly, because it's highly formulaic. I was not a fan of this. The humor was obvious and dumb, the characters flat, the plot paint-by-numbers. It's not just because I'm an adult and this is a book aimed at fifth graders--I recently reviewed
The Reptile Room, a series book aimed at the same age, and found it full of sly humor with admirably-drawn characters.
If you are looking for a book for a late elementary-aged kid in your life, I recommend avoiding the
How to Train Your Dragon series. Instead, if the child likes humor, try the
Series of Unfortunate Events books, of which above-mentioned
Reptile Room is the second, or the
Incorrigible Children series. Or, if the child you have in mind prefers high adventure and for some reason won't read
The Hobbit, even the
Ranger's Apprentice series is better than this dreck.
Angelic On the other hand, this kid-appropriate graphic novel is one of my absolute favorite things lately. It follows Qora, a brave and curious pink monkey who lives in the ruins of a human city in a future world where humans no longer exist. Her band of monkeys speaks in a devolved English patois and follows a rigorous religious code that forbids exploration outside of their territory and requires girl monkeys of Qora's age to have their wings clipped and become good, obedient wives to a male they are assigned to.
Qora can't stand it! She's too curious, too smart, too full of life for that crap, and after an altercation when her antics get the tribe in a fight with their mortal enemies--robotic dolphins and bubble-encased flying manatees--she flees and finds herself paired with a fellow outcast from the manatee society. Together they search for a missing piece to the manatees' robotic god/leader so they can get some answers as to why their bizarre world is the way it is.
Written by Simon Spurrier and beautifully drawn by Caspar Wijngarrd,
Angelic is a highly imaginative tale and Qora is a compelling (and adorable!) girlmonk who has too many asks to be anything but a naughtybutt. My son loved it and I have sent copies to a couple people I think would enjoy it, but really anyone who likes high-quality, all-ages fantasy should check out
Angelic.
