Friday, January 8, 2021

The Ickabog by JK Rowling

 


The Ickabog

What a fun read!!

This is definitely a fairy tale, and is written as such.  Simple language, very readaloudable, complete with the moral of the story.  Do you believe in the Ickabog, that swamp monster that will eat errant children?  In a perfect kingdom called Cornucopia where every parish has its own specialty, the pampered and pompous but really deep down good hearted King reigns and believes everything he is told, two evil advisors plot to gain more power, and two children end up saving the world.  But of course!  How they get there is full of fun and quips and Oh Please Tim Burton make a movie out of this!!!  Fun even for kids to read even with the prison scenes (wrongfully imprisoned!), and there are a few deaths mentioned, this chapter book/novel was a one-dayer for me (granted, I was at the beach) and was a great break from a lot of the more intense, serious reading this year.  Thank you as always, JKR, for bringing back the fun.

I also loved the backstory here - how she originally made up this story for her kids years ago; how she published it for free on the HP website to give kids something to read during lockdown; and ESPECIALLY how she had an art contest and put the winners of that contest's art INTO THE BOOK!  That's right, this book comes with pictures, drawn by kids, for kids, relating to different scenes in the book.

What's not to love?????

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