Average Cost: $15.00
Age Range: 8-12
Length: 131 pages.
Rating:

THE PLOT

Nurk is a rather unassuming and accidental hero that many children will immediately relate to. The grandson of “Surka”, warrior shrew, he desperately craves adventure but isn’t really sure he wants an adventure and even if he did, he wouldn’t quite know how to start out… That is, until a hummingbird arrives with a mysterious letter addressed to Surka which is accidentally delivered to Nurk. Fear of having committed “theft and mail fraud and and misrepresentation and swindling a public employee and using a false name and maybe even treason” sends this young shrew off on an adventure downriver to return the letter. While heading downriver he manages to run into Scatterwings, a very obviously teenage dragonfly that apparently was the writer of the letter. Scatterwings’ father the King pleas with Nurk for help, and so our reluctant hero sets off on a quest to rescue the King’s son and Scatterwings’ brother Flicker from a blind mole/enchanter half the size of a mountain.

The story itself is a bit formulaic. Reluctant hero goes on mission to rescue the victim of large dangerous meanie. Vernon differs a quite a bit though in that the “meanie” is not a dragon (ironically the victim is a dragonfly), and for once the victim is not a female. There are a lot of other unique twists to this book that make it well worth the read even though you’re pretty confident of the outcome and even most of the storyline. (Which just goes to show how entertaining the writing style is, that it can outshine the “it’s been done to death” feeling of the general plot.) Vernon has a playful style of writing and a great sense of youthful irony that will appeal to the tween market of this book. It’s always fun to be on the “in” side of a joke.

EDUCATIONAL/ENTERTAINMENT VALUE

Entertainment value is obviously where this book shines. Who can’t be amused by a shrew surrounded by fanciful creatures, some of whom exist in real life, and others that exist just no where near as interesting as they are described by Vernon. Notes in Grandmother Surka’s journal will be sure to entertain with quotes at the top of every chapter like “penmanship is for the weak” and “you can’t fight the weather. Well, you can–I’ve done it–but being struck by lightening is only fun the first two or three times.” The story moves along quickly without much downtime and isn’t something your child is likely to become bored with.

This book has no overwhelming educational message, but it has things to teach nonetheless. Your child may learn that boats are named with the breaking of a bottle of champaign.. Or in this case a bottle of root beer. Or perhaps you can engage them in a discussion about the different animals in Nurk, and which ones exist in real life vs. which are complete make-believe. Perhaps the most educational aspect of this book is the simple fact that Vernon does not talk down to her readers at all. Your young reader should be prepared to haul out the dictionary. Disdainful, archaic, cryptic, grotesque, iridescent, interspersed, and relinquished are just a few of the words that my precocious 12 year old niece had to look up. The ways in which Vernon uses these words commits them to memory in a wonderfully colorful way that is far more effective than your average vocabulary list and pop-quiz.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Ursula Vernon is an anthropologist by education and the daughter of an artist who took up drawing herself at the age of seventeen and who has created a popular web comic “Digger” and published several other books as well as selling many prints of her weird creations at her website: http://www.metalandmagic.com

Vernon’s anthropological background is obvious in her writing and illustrations. The reader will be delighted to find 11 illustrations throughout this book, all but one of which take up a full page.

AGE RANGE/APPROPRIATE CONTENT

There are a few mentions of violence but the violence is minimal and is only used where necessary in the story. Nurk’s grandmother Surka was a warrior and there is a portrait hanging in Nurk’s house of Surka with a severed head. This is not pictured anywhere, nor is it graphically described. The most graphic language used is excerpted here: “rammed into the heron, knocking it sideways into the water. It staggered to its feet. They knocked it down again . Nurk could see Amberskeins in the lead, clinging to the top of the bird’s head and whacking it vigorously between the eyes.” As you can see this is not very violent.

There are a few scary moments in the story, but overall the story focuses mostly on the upbeat, the amusing, the frustrating and the sad. This book is far more tame and age appropriate than other material for the same age range. (Much less graphic/violent than other popular books such as Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) I think that very few parents would have a problem with this book.

BOTTOM LINE

This debut novel by self-proclaimed “creator of weird thingies”, Ursula Vernon, is quite a bit of fun and is entertaining enough to read well into adulthood. Both my 12 year old niece and I found this book thoroughly pleasant to read.