The Comic Book Lesson

A graphic novel that shows you how to make comics

by Mark Crilley
2022 / 156 pages

Emily is a young artist with plans for a comic book - she wants the hero to be a "pet finder" coming to the rescue of any and all who have lost their furry friends. But it's one thing to have a story and the skills to draw it and yet another to know how to transform it into comic book form. So how can she bridge that gap? She just needs the right sort of mentor. What author Mark Crilley has given us is a story showing aspiring cartoonists how they, too, can learn what Emily wants to know – we get to come along for her journey as she meets three talented ladies who are willing to teach.

First up is an encounter at the comic store: Emily discovers that the store clerk, a high schooler named Trudy, is a fantastic artist working on a comic project of her own. Emily's enthusiasm and persistence ensure that one impromptu lesson becomes more. Trudy teaches Emily things like pacing – how including adding a couple more frames can make a scene more dramatic – and how a character's eyebrows communicate more about their emotions than a smile or frown.

Trudy is so impressed with Emily's work that she introduces her to Madeline, a friend who's already a published cartoonist. The lessons Madeline teaches include the importance of a "broad" establishing shot before going in for close-ups, and the need to script a comic before you begin drawing it. Madeline, in turn, introduces Emily to her own cartooning mentor, Sophie, who has yet more to teach Emily, like the proper order for word bubbles, and the need to eliminate any possibilities of confusion.

While I don't like to include spoilers, for the sake of young readers, I'm going to include one. During her time with Sophie, we find out why Emily was so earnest about her hero being a pet finder: because Emily wasn't able to rescue her own dog. Her loss is poignantly told, which made my one daughter sad enough that she stopped reading. I suspect though, that she might pick it up again. If your child is a sensitive soul, it might help to give them a heads-up beforehand.

Cautions

I'm going to list a few cautions that aren't all the relevant to the mid to older teens this is aimed at, and I only include them because some 10-year-olds and even younger could really enjoy this comic, but with some parental guidance.

This is one of the tamest, safest "how-to-cartoon" books you can find (Maker Comics: Draw a Comic is another, though it covers different ground). But parents need to know that comics today contain loads of weirdness. Whether it's the way women are depicted as impossibly buxom and skinny, or the heroic witches, ghosts, and demons that feature in more and more stories, or the queer agenda that's inserted in comics for even the youngest ages, there is a lot of twisted stuff out there.

The Comic Book Lesson isn't pushing any of that, but in a few instances, this secular work does "bump" into this weirdness. So, for example, Trudy mentions the "Electric Angel Nurse Mizuki" comic she's authored, and we're shown the cover depicting a nurse with wings. Madeline mentions she is writing a comic book about assassins for hire. A customer asks for a copy of Raina Telgemeier's Smile, which is a fine book, but whose sequels take a queer turn. And the 12-or-so-year-old Emily is depicted at a comic store and convention without her parents, which are weirder places than we'd want our 12-year-old to go without us.

That's about it. Nothing too bad, but some of it worth a discussion, especially for younger readers.

Conclusion

Comics can combine not simply exceptional writing but outstanding art, doubling the creative potential to explore. That's why Christians really should dive into this medium. The Comic Book Lesson is a solid piece of "edutainment" that'll give young aspiring artists an introduction to the general approach needed to be able to expand and refine their skills. This is not so much a "how-to-draw" book – there's already enough of those – as it is a "how-to-decide-what-to-draw" book.

If your child loves The Comic Book Lesson, you may be interested to learn that the author has also created The Drawing Lesson, which I hope to check out very soon.

For more, watch the video below where the author gives an in-depth (20 minutes long) introduction to his book.

Fuzzy Baseball: Triple Play

by John Steven Gurney

2022 / 176 ages

This is, as the title references, three stories in one, each involving the Fernwood Valley Fuzzies baseball team taking on a different opponent. The Fuzzies are quite a cuddly team, even if their manager is a bear. Other players include a koala, a wombat, and a penguin.

In the first story we’re introduced to their biggest fan, Blossom Possum. But when the Fuzzies keep losing to their rivals, the Rocky Ridge Claws, this fan decides she has to do more than cheer from the sidelines: Blossom tries out and makes the team! But can a little possum really get a hit playing against the fearsome critters of the Red Claw? What can she do versus a crocodile, warthog, bull, rhino, or wolf? As you might imagine, there is a happy ending.

In the second story, the team travels to Japan to play the Sashimi City Ninjas, a polite, but very cocky lot that leaves some of the Fuzzies feeling intimidated. Things get crazy when the Ninjas are able to amplify their baseball skills with a “morfo-power blast” – this is riffing off of Asian cartoons where characters often have some kind of secret power boost they can employ when they most need it. But when the Fuzzies take advantage of this power blast too, it’s homeruns all around, but, as Blossom notes, “This isn’t baseball.” A fun quirk to this story is two alternate endings, the first where it was all a dream, and the second where it wasn’t.

In the third story the Fuzzies discover that the team they are playing are actually robots. Can they beat mechanical wonders? The Fuzzies are up for finding out.

Cautions

This is a collection of what was first three separate books – Fuzzy Baseball, Ninja Baseball Blast, and RBI Robots – and while I have no concerns with any of them, I’ll mention that the fourth book, Di-no hitters. This time the Fuzzies are playing a team of dinosaurs, and while I’ve only read the back cover, it has a couple of allusions to evolution, so I suspect that one will have more than a few jokes about millions of years and such. So, pick up Triple Play, but it might be worth giving book #4 a miss.

Conclusion

This is a kid’s comic that sticks to that target audience: it’s fun, creative, and while this isn’t really trying to teach kids anything, whatever morals there are to the stories (maybe, “be a good teammate,” or “work hard,” etc.) are ones we can appreciate. This would make for a fantastic Christmas present for any kid who likes baseball, fuzzy animals, comics, or even none of the above.

The Hobbit: an illustrated edition of the fantasy classic

by J.R.R. Tolkien 
adapted by Charles Dixon
illustrated by David Wenzel
1990 / 133 pages

There's a hierarchy so unfailingly true it could be carved into stone: the book is always better than the movie, and the movie is always better than the graphic novel adaptation. 

But I am here to tell you that this otherwise unfailing rule does have an exception! I'm not going to start talking all crazy and tell you that this comic is better than the book – that has never been and never will be! – but it is better than the film! It is even better than many a book, paling in comparison only to its original source material. 

For those unfamiliar with the epic tale, this is the story of Bilbo Baggins, the titular hobbit, and a hobbit is basically human-like, though half the size and with at least twice the hair on their feet. Hobbits are homebodies so Biblo isn't exactly sure how he joined a dwarfish expedition to steal back their treasure from an enormous talking dragon. Small though he might be, Biblo is big in character, and though he doesn't think himself brave, in meeting up with trolls, goblins, giant spiders, and, of course, an even bigger dragon, he ends up doing many a brave thing. It's a good old-fashioned epic tale, with good, eventually, triumphing over evil...but not without paying a price. 

That's the original, and the 133 pages of this graphic novel adaptation give this the space to capture it all. And illustrator David Wenzel has given this a classic look for this classic tale - there's a reason that in the 30 years since this first came out, no one has even attempted to improve on it. 

Its size and depth mean this isn't for the casual comic fan, but for fantasy fans 14 and up, this will be such a treat!

Mis-inflation: the truth about inflation, pricing, and the creation of wealth

by Douglas Wilson and David Bahnsen

2022 / 140 pages

Over the last ten years hyperinflation has wiped out the Venezuelan currency, reducing it to 1/40 billionth of what it once was, and for years now I've been wondering, aren't we in danger of heading in the same direction? Isn't it just a matter of math that if our governments keep printing more money, that money will be worth less – if they double it, shouldn't each bill end up being worth half as much? 

And if that's so, what with Western governments' stimulus handouts, quantitative easing, and COVID emergency spending, why haven't we become Venezuela already? 

That's the lead question that Pastor Douglas asks financial manager David Bahnsen in Mis-inflation. It's a series of back-and-forth emails, with Wilson the interviewer, and Bahnsen (son of Reformed presuppositional apologist Greg Bahnsen), giving his best replies. The short answer is, that we probably don't need to worry about Venezuelan-type hyperinflation (and, consequently, don't need to start buying gold), but stagnating like Japan is a real danger. 

More important still was a connection made between economic worries and the Parable of the Talents. The unfaithful servant fearfully buried his talent, but we are called, even in economic downturns, to take what God has given us and seek a return on it to His glory. 

Now, if economics is not your interest, this will be a tough read - it took me about three chapters to begin to understand what Bahnsen was explaining (though Wilson's questions did help unpack Bahnsen's answers). However, if you are interested, this has some helpful answers that don't seem readily available anywhere else, which makes it worth the effort! 

Only When It’s Dark Can We See the Stars: a father’s journal as his son battles cancer

by John van Popta

2022, 194 pages

Why Lord? That’s the question 12-year-old Julian van Popta, his parents, and his siblings had to contend with when this young man was diagnosed with leukemia. Only When It’s Dark Can We See the Stars is an account of the four years that followed, as written by his father, Pastor John van Popta. The chapters are made up of the regular updates Rev. van Popta sent out to friends and family during the rounds of Julian’s treatment. 

What’s striking, and what makes this such a valuable read, is the trust the author demonstrates in God, even as the van Poptas struggled with why God would bring such sickness. As the author shares, it is one thing to face cancer as a pastor comforting parishioners, and another thing to do so as a parent seeing their child too weak even to eat. The question Why Lord? is made all the more urgent when, during Julian’s repeated hospital stays, they meet other children also battling cancer, and the van Poptas share in these families’ hopes and their losses – Julian does eventually recover, but many others do not. 

While this is a deeply personal account, the struggle to trust God in the face of death is one that we’ll all have to face, and this then is an example of how to struggle well. It is a father writing, but there’s no missing this is also a pastor who wants to feed the sheep with what he knows we need: to understand that my only comfort is that I am not my own but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. That truth, powerfully delivered, makes this not simply a good book, but an important one.

The Flames of Rome

by Paul L. Maier

Kregel Publications

1981 / 445 pages

If you like history, church history, or historical fiction, you’ll likely love this well written tale of Rome in the time of Nero. The Flames of Rome recounts Nero’s rise to power, his reign as emperor of Rome, and his ultimate brutal death.

Strictly speaking, this book is not history. While it’s certainly true to the historical period, and works with real, historical characters, it fills in a lot of details. For example, at one point the apostle Paul visits Rome and we learn about his interaction with other characters in the book. Did Paul visit Rome? Yes, he did. Did Paul sit down and talk with the other characters in the book? Since the other characters, like Paul, really did exist, it’s possible. Will we ever know for sure? It’s doubtful.

Though the book works with historical characters and detail, it’s still fictional. It’s useful to give you the full flavor of the glory, and the immorality, that was Rome. Nero, as one of Rome’s more depraved emperors, is depicted in all his disgusting glory. His fascination with his friend’s wife, and his ultimate success in taking her for himself is real enough. Her desire for Nero, her seduction of him is a useful plot device that could’ve happened but probably didn’t.

What made the book fascinating for me was the way the rise of Christianity was woven through the storyline. Early on, the character Pomponia encounters Christianity and is sorely tempted to get involved with this strange yet exciting sect. This, naturally, causes friction between her and her very Roman husband. The trouble does not stop there. Pomponia’s daughter, Plautia, becomes a Christian as well. Her new husband, Sabinus, happily indulges her beliefs in this offbeat Jewish sect, but becomes more influenced by them than he might have imagined. Sabinus, in his eventual role as governor of Rome, must struggle with his desire to free Rome from the insanity of Nero, while trying not to betray the Christian beliefs he is increasingly calling his own.

The only caution I have about this book is that if you are squeamish, this tale may not be for you. While Maier writes with delicacy, it’s still clear that Nero is bisexual, and that Christians die in horrible, terrifying ways. Maier strikes an admirable balance between letting his readers know of the depravity of Rome without using needless and titillating detail. Yet the gross reality is there since a tale like this cannot ignore it.

It’s a good tale and it makes for an easy read. It’s historical fiction that’s good enough that it could’ve happened. Read this book.

Snow Treasure

by Marie McSwigan

1942 / 196 pages

In 1940, shortly after the Germans invaded Norway, a Norwegian freighter arrived in the US city of Baltimore carrying $9 million worth of gold bullion. This cargo has been smuggled out of the country to keep it from the Nazis, and as a news account from the time noted, children on sleds had been used to slip it past the invaders.

Snow Treasure, published two years later, expands on those scant details to give young readers a story that should be understood as much more fiction than fact: 12-year-old Peter Lundstrom, and all the other children are made-up characters, as are all the events and details.

But what's true about this tale, and the reason it is worth reading is the bravery of not just the children, but the parents too in putting their children at risk to keep this wealth out of the hands of men who would use it only for evil. It's this celebration of courage and conviction that's likely kept this continuously in print since it was first published 80 years ago! (It was awarded the Young Reader's Choice Award back in 1945 when winning it meant something.)

There are no cautions to offer. While there is peril, no one dies or even gets shot at. 

Snow Treasure will be best enjoyed by children in Grades 2 and 3, and might be a quick fun read for those even a little older. Over the decades it has been published with all sorts of covers, both terrible and terrific, so be sure to get a good one.

The New Has Come

by Christine Farenhorst

2022 / 262 pages

Linnet is a five-year-old Dutch girl who, we discover, knows absolutely nothing about God. Her ignorance is so profound that when the Nazis invade, and an occupying soldier tells little Linnet about the wonderful family that "God has given" him, she wonders, Who is this God he is talking about? and Is God German For our own children, who may take always knowing God for granted, it will be eye-opening to follow what it's like, and how wonderful it is, for someone to be introduced to God for the first time. 

Linnet has the same wonderings any kid might have, but her wartime experiences also have her asking deeper questions, including a child's version of "God are you really there?" 

Christine Farenhorst's The New Has Come is that rarity that will appeal to all ages: the World War II setting and charming protagonist will grab your children; moms and dads will appreciate Linnet's questions and the opportunities they present to talk about God with our kids, and grandparents will get more than a little misty-eyed at just how beautifully this tale is told. I could not recommend it more highly!

As you some blog readers might know, Christine writes regularly for the magazine I helm, Reformed Perspective, and if you want to get a taste of her writing you read some of her many articles on the RP website here. 

You can also get a preview of the book's first chapter at the Amazon.ca listing here. 

Chris Chrisman Goes to College

and faces the challenges of relativism, individualism, and pluralism

by James W. Sire
1993 / 155 pages

The clearest way to describe this book is as an apologetic novel - not one that apologizes for Christian faith, but one that puts forward arguments for not only Christianity, but for the engagement of Christians with society - as Chris Chrisman, a Christian, and Bob Wong, an atheist, have their world(view)s turned upside-down by the relativism of their university education.

Whether the name Wong is a sly shot at the wrongness of atheism is debatable, but the story is full of punny names. Chrisman and Wong share their search for intellectual clarity with their mutual friend, Bill Seipel, who is indeed a faithful disciple of Christ.

However, the novel is more than a set of Socratic dialogues (like the works of the Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft, which are reviewed or previewed on this blog). A few additions make the story a potentially more compelling read. First, the story is told mostly through the eyes of Chris, including his concern for his roommate Bob, as well as his increasing interest in Susie Sylvan - but the book also glancingly brings in several other characters whose reaction to religious and social issues parallel both the current complexities of those issues and the different kinds of seed spread in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-23. Second, the author James W. Sire alternates Chris's fictional story with chapters on the historical development of the worldviews facing the students at Hansom State University - individualism, pluralism, privatization, and varied types of relativism. In the process, Sire makes clear that Christians, no matter how sincere, often do not see the power of the kingdom of God to bring about not only individual salvation, but also the entrance of salt and light into our broken society.

The only problem is that Sire's concerns and suggested solutions tilt heavily in the direction of the quest for social justice, including his list of organizations that seek to bring Christian perspective to social issues - and of course, the list is out of date. As well, Sire describes the problem of individualism as extending even to significant denominational differences. For that reason, I suggest that the book is a good one to become acquainted with some of the challenges of campus life and instruction, but needs to be taken with a grain of salt regarding exactly how churches and Christians need to engage more fully with each other and our broken world.

Virginia Lee Burton: Queen of nostalgia

One of the funnest things about Virginia Lee Burton's books is the history behind them – these are classics! A mom reading Katy and the Big Snow to her daughters might remember her own parents reading the same book to her. Since they first came out in the 1940s, Virginia Lee Burton's books have been enjoyed by three generations.

But there's more to the nostalgia, because even when they were brand new, they likely had a timeless feel. That's because, rather than being about Burton's present, they were a look back, celebrating a not-so distant past that seemed calmer, simpler, better.

The idyllic yesteryear that Burton presents is just a bit before her own childhood, in the transition period between the late 19th and early 20th century. It's a curious time to pick as the wistful pinnacle of civilization. It's an age in which mechanization is already in place, so why is Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel worth celebrating, but the diessel shovels that followed are somehow threatening? But that is the pinnacle she picks, not only in Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, but Maybelle the Cable Car, and then again in The Little House.

To be clear, these are more than quiet laments at the rapid technological advances that were revolutionizing the way life was lived. They are also a hubbub of activity, with all sorts of machines at work, and piles to see on every page. This busyness is then contrasted by the happy, calm conclusion to each story.

While it's fun to take a peek at the past from someone who really appreciates the age she's depicting, parents might remind their children of what the Preacher says in Ecclesiastes 7:10: "Say not 'Why were the former days better than these?' For it is not from wisdom that you ask this." To romanticize the past can sometimes be to overlook the many blessings God is showering on us right now.

RECOMMENDED

Her four most popular are available separately and also in a compendium together. They are wonderful!

Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel
1939 / 48 pages

Mike Mulligan and his beautiful red steam shovel, Mary Anne, do a lot of digging in this story: cutting canals, lowering hills, straightening curves. But as technology advances, and new electric, diesel, and gasoline shovels come along, no one wants to hire a steam shovel. But instead of sending Mary Anne to the junkyard, Mike takes her to a small town looking to dig the cellar for their new town hall. He tells them that Mary Anne can do the job in a day, or they won’t have to pay him. The real fun here is not in finding out whether she gets the job done in time, but in the sweet way the story ends, with Mary Anne and Mike finding new jobs to keep them both busy.

The Little House
1942 / 44 pages
The story starts with a solid little house in the country that can just see the lights of the city on the horizon at night. But as the decades pass, the city approaches and then engulfs the little house, making her sad. But when the first owner’s great great-granddaughter comes across, she decides to move the solid little house to a new spot, out in the country once more.

Katy and the Big Snow
1943 / 40 pages

A big red crawler tractor named Katy can push dirt in the summer, but when winter comes, she’s the only one strong enough to push through all the snow. When a Big Snow hits, and all the plow trucks get stuck, and the snow piles up to three feet, five feet, and even more, then it’s time for Katy to save the day. She clears roads for ambulances, fire trucks, the police, the mailman, the phone and electric company, and then even clears the runway for a plane that otherwise would have crashed. Katy saved the day!

MayBelle the Cable Car
1952 / 52 pages

Maybelle is a cable car who spends her days going up and down San Fransisco’s steepest roads, and she's been doing so for decades. But now the city wants to do away with all the cable cars and replace them with big new busses. Will Maybelle be out of a job? No, because a campaign by citizens to keep the money-losing cable cars wins the day. Yay? What this presumes is that, so long at the majority rules, it's okay to use tax dollars for non-neccesities of all sorts, including wisful ones. So parents might have to talk their children through this one, to ensure little ones don't walk away with that lesson.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

Fun to read once or twice, these don't need to make the cut for personal or school library shelves.

Calico, the Wonder Horse
1941 / 67 pages

A peaceful Western county is disrupted by a gang of bad guys. The wonder horse Calico disguises herself with a black mud bath so that Stewy Stinker, leader of the gang, will mistake her for his horse. When he does, she gives him a wild ride to jail. He escapes and makes plans to hold up the stagecoach only to discover that it is full of presents for the town’s children for Christmas Eve. Stinky starts crying because “I didn’t know I was that mean… holding up Santa on Christmas Eve. I’m never going to be bad anymore.” So the bad guys all decide to be good. This is a fun exciting story, but this people-are-only-bad-because-they-are-misunderstood turn at the end obscures that there is real evil in the world, fully determined to be wicked, and they must be fought and not coddled.

Choo Choo
1937 / 48 pages

A hard-working train engine, Choo Choo takes a bratty turn and decides she wants to go out on her own, so she runs away. After a misadventure, causing all sorts of mishaps as she flies through crossings and even leaps over an open train drawbridge, Choo Choo eventually runs out of steam and is left all on her own at the end of an abandoned line. Fortunately, her conductor, engineer, and fireman go after her, find her, and bring her home, much to Choo Choo’s relief – she’s learned her lesson and pledges never to run away again.

DON'T BOTHER

The second book below made this category on, admittedly, a bit of nitpick, but the first earned its spot, being nothing but propoganda.

Life Story - At 80 pages, this is Burton’s biggest book by far, and all of it a godless evolutionary account of how life on earth originated. We move through millions of years of history until, in the concluding pages set in Burton’s time, there is on display, her wistful longing for a simple, country life.

The Emperor’s New Clothes - Burton illustrated this Hans Christian Anderson classic. As much as I like the story, what I’m looking for in an illustrated version for children is for the Emperor's nakedness to be strategically and artfully obscured. Burton almost pulls it off, but on the last page we have a naked butt, and yes, it is a cartoonish naked butt. However, she's already shown in previous pages that this nudity is unneeded. For this tittering age group, one naked butt is one too many.

CONCLUSION

If one could overdose on Virigina Lee Burton that might lead a child to romanticize the past, and maybe even take an anti-progress, almost Luddite turn. But Burton didn't write all that much, so this isn't much of a concern.

Instead we can just enjoy her timeless books for the lovely look back that they are. We can dig up our own old copy, and point out all the action going on, the favorite bits that we recall from so many years ago "when your grandpappy used to read this to me." Burton at her best offers up stories that will endure at least long enough for you to read them to your grandchildren too.

Medallion

by Dawn L. Watkins

1985 / 213 pages

This will be a fun one for Grade 4/5 boys. Young Trave plans to be king one day, but in the meantime, the current king of Gadalla, his uncle, won't even let him learn to ride a horse. Trave's life takes a turn when a rider comes to warn his uncle of an impending war, and tries to recruit him as an ally against the "Dark Alliance." His uncle dismisses the warning but allows Trave to head off with the departing rider, happy to be done with this annoying boy. But why does the rider have any interest in Trave? Because the rider turns out to be the king of the neighboring nation of Kapnos, and he knew Trave's father back when he was the fighting king of Gadalla. This King Gris is eager to help Trave become the king not simply that Trave wants to be, but that the neighboring nations need him to be, to stop the Dark Alliance.

And while Trave appreciates being rescued from his uncle, he doesn't like being treated like a schoolboy in need of lessons. He mistakenly believes that being a king means fighting and giving orders, rather than serving. And that makes him susceptible to the flattery of the Dark Alliance's leader, who wants Trave on his side.

This is a quick tale, that has some depth to it, because of the three kingly lessons that Trave needs to know, not just by heart, but in his bones. He finds out, the hard way, that a king needs: 

• to learn what is true
• to believe what is true
• to act on what is true 

While the author is Christian, that's more notable in the lack of any new age or woke weirdness, rather than the presence of any spiritual dimension to the book. The only diety-mention of any kind is that the bad guys worship and are also terrified of owls. 

Boys will love the story, and appreciate the twenty or so great pictures, including one of the evil king riding what looks like a miniature (yet still large) T-rex. That's a reason to get the book all on its own! Another highlight is the curious creature Nog, who lives under a bog, and his every line, is always spoken in rhyme. 

While this is a little too simple for teens, it's one that'll really appeal to the 9-12 set, and younger even, if Dad is reading it as a bedtime book. 

This works well as a stand-alone, but I was initially excited to learn there is both a sequel and a prequel. However, the sequel, Arrow struck me as having too many characters to keep track of, and there was an added mystical dimension thrown in, where a queen and princess used a mirrored portal to unexplainedly travel to another realm. Mysterious can be good when the mystery is eventually revealed, but this magical turn is left unexplained, and that bothered both me and my oldest daughter too when she read it. 

The original was good enough that I still checked out the prequel, Shield, and while it might have also suffered from too many characters, it was much more like the original: good, if not quite as great. So I'd recommend just the two - Medallion and Shield – while noting that the content in Arrow is "safe" enough (there's nothing problematic) for any child who wants to complete the series.

Urchin of the Riding Stars

by M.I. McAllister

2021 / 299 pages

This was so good I had to share bits of it with my wife. This is an animals-with-swords tale, the hedgehogs, otters, moles, and squirrels all living together in the same island kingdom under the good King Brushen. 

But all is not well in the kingdom of Mistmantle – there are "cullings" being done to the newborn handicapped children. This is quite the somber subject for a children's book, and as the culling are considered for the elderly too, it's clear that the author is speaking to both abortion and euthanasia. 

The young Urchin is very much opposed, but his heroes, Captains Crispin and Padra, don't seem to be doing anything to stop it, and the third captain, Husk, seems to be enjoying it! So who are the good guys then? Who can Urchin turn to for help to save these children? It turns out some of the good guys are indeed good, but, on the other hand, some turn out to be really, really bad. 

This a fairytale that takes seriously the Chesterton quote about dragons:

"Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."

There is evil in this book, and the might even turn off some of its target preteen to early teen audience. But it gets to be quite the rollicking adventure soon enough, full of courtly intrigue, conspiracies, and heroes being heroic. 

I think the author is Christian, and the God of this story is referred to as "the Heart." This spiritual element isn't huge, but it is persistent and doesn't stray into anything weird or wacky. I know this will be a book I'll enjoy reading to my kids. An otherwise entertaining second book in this Mistmantle Chronicles series is marred by an agenda-pushing, albeit passing, mention of a female priest. The first book stands well enough on its own, so in our house I think we're going to start and stop with number one.