Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Horace attends a school for boys who want to become knights. His evil teacher, Sir Sneazle, announces that King Arthur will be inspecting their school and assigns the students impossible homework, with the intent of keeping them away during the king's visit. One boy has to write 100 pages with no ink blots, three others have to rescue a fair maiden, and Horace has to kill a dragon. They hope that Horace's sister, who is always inventing things that everyone finds useless like bicycles (they'll never catch on) and forks (they're rude), will be able to help them. Add one wizard mother, a father who can shape-shift, and a very odd branch of family relations (think wings and scales), and what you get is a quirky, humorous plot to thwart the teacher. Horace and his sister are well developed, but secondary characters are less so. Background information on the Saxons and how Sir Sneazle is involved with them is sketchy. Still, readers will be so caught up in the adventure, inventions, and, of course, the dragons. White's small black-and-white sketches appear on several pages per chapter and add to the humor. Recommend this easy chapter book to low-level fantasy and adventure lovers.-Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
