Nat Fantastic and the Brave Knights of Old by Giles Andreae and Katharine McEwen
| Nat Fantastic and the Brave Knights of Old by Giles Andreae and Katharine McEwen | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
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| Summary: Nat's back, and this time he's sneezing himself into to the world of knights. It's lots of fun, but the episodic plot makes it a little unsatisfying (despite requests for multiple reads). | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: July 2010 |
| Publisher: Orchard | |
| ISBN: 978-1408305171 | |
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Everyone's favourite sneezing superhero, Nat Fantastic, is back, and this time he's being whisked away to join the brave knights of old. For those of you who missed the first book, every time Nat's mummy leaves the room, his nose gets tinglier and tinglier, then he's sneezed away on an amazing adventure, only to be sneezed right back home again just in time for her to come back into the room.
Each adventure is short and sweet, with each journey back in time taking just two or three pages. On the one hand, it fills the story with catchy repetition as Nat's sneezing zings him around time. On the other hand, what almost amount to standalone chapters in a picture book makes the plot feel a little unsatisfying at times. That's more of a problem for those reading it, rather than those being read to, because... well, who doesn't love knights taking back their castle from baddies?
Being positive, one could say the episodic nature opens the book up to slightly younger readers - perhaps younger siblings who would otherwise grow restless of Nat Fantastic's longer than average text. The text is bubbly and vibrant, with lashings of knightly vocabulary, like damsel, lance and duel to get to grips with. The potentially unfamiliar words are never pitched too high or too low - it's always clear what's going on, but they provide the excitement of specialised words. Giles Andreae has a nice turn of phrase: I smile every time I read Nat really quite liking the damsel's kiss on his cheek.
Katharine McEwen's illustrations are good, solid picture book fare. They're action-packed and energetic, perfectly supporting the action, rather than dominating it. There's enough depth to them that you'll find lots to enjoy on every subsequent reading.
The Brave Knights of Old is a strong sequel - familiar and yet different enough to warrant a separate purchase. The scene is nicely set for any number of other Nat Fantastic adventures - pirates, dinosaurs or what have you - and I'd have a great time reading them. Recommended.
My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.
For other adventures through time and space, look no further than The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr Benn by David McKee. If knights are your thing, you'll enjoy Small Knight and George and the Royal Chocolate Cake by Ronda Armitage and Arthur Robins, The Sunflower Sword by Mark Sperring and Miriam Latimer and Sir Laughalot by Tony Mitton and Sarah Warburton.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Nat Fantastic and the Brave Knights of Old by Giles Andreae and Katharine McEwen at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Nat Fantastic and the Brave Knights of Old by Giles Andreae and Katharine McEwen at Amazon.com.
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