8/10/15

Two fun Adventures in Cartooning tales--Sleepless Knight and Gryphons Aren't So Great

Adventures In Cartooning, by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost introduced Edward the Horse and the knight who is his companion in adventure.  Now Edward and the knight have their own stories, stand-alone graphic novels for the young.  Sleepless Knight and Gryphons  Aren't so Great are top notch books to offer the 5 to 8 year old whose just getting going with the fun of graphic novel reading!


In Sleepless Knight (FirstSecond, April 2015)  Edward and the knight head off on a camping trip.  But though the knight's teddy bear was carefully packed, when bed time comes, it can't be found.  A helpful bunny tells the knight where bear is....but the bear in question isn't stuffed!  All ends well, though, with Edward bringing out his ukulele to sing with the bear and bunny by the campfire, while the knight snoozes with the real teddy.




In Gryphons Aren't So Great (FirstSecond Sept 15 2015), the knight finds a Gryphon who's willing to fly her around.  Poor Edward is left earthbound while the knight whoops it up in the sky.  But gryphons aren't reliable, and Edward has to make a daring leap to save the knight when things go wrong.   And the knight realizes that she'd been thoughtless, and she and Edward decide that jumping into the moat from the castle towers is great fun they can have together.  (You can get a sneak peak here at FirstSecond).

So nice, simple stories little kids can relate too, told in simple language and told with really  charming pictures of great kid friendliness.  Don't expect much instruction in cartooning--the inside front and back covers have instructions on how to draw the characters, but that it.  Do expect young readers to be charmed (I was!), and to look forward to more about Edward and the knight!

NB:  I had defaulted to assuming the knight was male, since gender was never specified, but the publisher's blurb makes it clear that the knight is actually "she." 

Here's my 2010 review of The Adventures in Cartooning Activity Book--I still think Edward is my favorite graphic novel horse ever!

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

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