Picture Book: Grumpy Goat, Brett Helquist

Grumpy Goat
Brett Helquist
ISBN: 9780061139536
Read: January 6, 2014

Picture Book: Grumpy Goat is not just anti-social, he's actively nasty to the other animals.  Then one day he spots something beautiful, something that reminds him of light and life and happiness.  His newfound sweet nature draws in the other wary animals, who then prove to be true friends when Goat's transient object of adoration is lost to him.  A shining example of seeing beauty in the smallest thing, of standing by friends when they are feeling sad, and a tribute to dandelions everywhere.

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, Jennifer Trafton, Brett Helquist

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, Jennifer Trafton, illus. by Brett Helquist

ISBN: 9780803733756

Read November 15, 2013

Juv: quirky quest adventure.

Very similar in nature and tone to Tuesdays at the Castle, and very nearly as good. 

Persimmony Smudge is the exact opposite of her dutiful drudge of a sister Prunella (LOVE the names); she is a dreamer, an adventurer, a thinker.  

She is, in other words, the perfect person for an Adventure.  But somehow in all of her ten years, she's never had one, even though her father (missing for nearly those entire ten years) was a noted adventurer himself.  Her mother and sister are decidedly anti-adventure, but that only spurs Persimmony on to higher reaches of imagination.

Her imagination fails to match reality when she gets lost in the woods and overhears the feared underground Leafeaters plotting against the king.  Now she and fellow adventurers Worvil (the worried) and Theodore (the wise creater of magical pots) have to save the kingdom, despite the niggling fact that the twelve-year-old king is more than a little bit of a brat, and perhaps not actually worth saving after all.

Also, there's a very lovely big giant, who reminded me strongly and beautifully of the giant Time, fast asleep under Narnia, waiting for the end of the world.   

Great characters, madcap plotting, somewhat uneven pacing.