I have been in the habit of reading to my boys when they go to bed since they were little. We don't do it every night, but most evenings we gather on the couch for our latest adventure. For the last year and a half or so we've been into chapter books. We're reading through the Chronicles of Narnia and other books as well.
In March, the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy tour highlighted Andrew Peterson's book On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. I thought my boys (8 and 6) would enjoy this book, and I was definitely right.
The first few chapters deftly use humor to build interest even as the conflict is slowly unfolding. The boys laughed at Janner Igiby's trouble with the dog Nugget's nuggest, and couldn't understand why Gnag the Nameless (a nameless evil) had a name.
The humor continues in the book, but the adventure grows as the Igiby children run into trouble with the Fangs of Dang, and the mysteries of the Jewels of Anniera are eventually revealed. My boys started hanging on every chapter, threatening to pound me in the nose if I didn't keep reading. Dark Sea does a great job of leaving each chapter hanging a little, making the boys very interested to see what happened the next night.
We finished the book this week, and the boys are already very excited that there promises to be two more books in this series. My oldest (who has only just finished 2nd grade) has, since Wednesday, read halfway through a book that is meant for a young adult audience.
I just wanted to follow up on this book to explain how much my boys liked it, and to encourage parents out there to let their kids experience this take of adventure, peril, lost jewels, and the toothy cows of Skree.
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Jason, sooooo glad to hear your boys liked the book. I think it is well written, though I wish we would have had Janner wanting something and/or trying to accomplish something early in the story. As for you, Peterson's use of humor was the device that kept me engaged in those early chapters. Then the story started cookin'. ;-)
ReplyDeleteBecky
What a blessing to read about you and your boys Jason.. made my Fathers Day!
ReplyDeleteKansas Bob- Thank you so much! That is special. Hope you're doing well!
ReplyDeleteBecky - I agree with that. Janner initially is a character who sits around and stuff happens TO him, rather than him ACTING on stuff. At least early on. Also, you would think he'd tell on Tink or do something to slow his crazy brother down. Still, a great book and we can't wait for the next one. Oh, also - on the basis of the introductions to the land of Aerwiar and Skree alone, the book has hooked my 16 year old book-loving nephew.