A heartwarming middle-grade adventure about the bond between two brothers, their faithful horse, and a surprising legacy. A deserving follow-up to I Am Rebel from a beloved author twice short-listed for the Costa Children’s Book Award
Remember everything I taught you, Small Wonder. Take care of Leaf. Take care of Pebble. I’ve done all I can. The rest is up to you . . . Tick, called Small Wonder by his grandfather, lives peacefully at the edge of Ellia, along with his little brother and faithful horse. But then a deadly assassin arrives. Enemies are invading and the kingdom is in danger. Tick has six moons to get to Kings’ Keep and warn their ruler. Traveling through forests and over mountains, encountering bandits and rogue knights, Tick is determined to honor his grandfather’s last words of advice . . . Make it count.---from the publisher
224 pages 978-1536252460 Ages 9-12
Keywords: adventure, brothers, horse, family, assassin, kingdom, intrigue, knights, grandfather, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, animals
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I heard recently that kids of today are reaching back for words their grandparents use. Words like "skedaddle" and "yap" and "hoodwink." Interesting that in the midst of all of this technology, they are delighted to bust out a few "lummoxes."
It makes me think about all the conversation to and writing about how our kids are not reading and how the young parents are not reading aloud to their children at home. That's not the "old-fashioned" way to do things. No skedaddling there. That's the "new-fashioned" way to live.
With all of this swirling around us I picked up Ross Montgomery's new title SMALL WONDER. There's a magnificent white stallion on the front in a maelstrom of danger and determination. I love this genre. I love champions and people who overcome. I love when good wins over evil. I especially love when our children are invited to see themselves as the amazing, powerful humans they are - read any one of the Lost Years of Merlin books and you will see that in action.
This story opens in a forest with two brothers, one ten and the other five years old, disagreeing. Timeless. But, quickly the scene shifts to a danger the brothers, Tick and Leaf, never saw coming. Someone in a dark hood is standing outside the door to their cabin and that someone does not come with well wishes.
Tick knows their own hope of survival is to run. His grandfather taught him that and now all the tools and how-tos that Tick learned over the years are doing to stand between them and possible death. Luckily their horse, Pebble, is ready to bend down and pick them up. That's how they will get out of this place in time to escape the Hunter who has come for them.
Each chapter holds a new adventure, a new twist, a chance for the two brothers to face choices, the easy way vs the hard way, patience, and gradually to build a solid connection. Bandits, foreign armies, and even a hawk in the air above them will slow them down, threaten them and challenge their hope.
You have to love a great horse character. You have to love boys who grow up and become so brave chapter by chapter. Just how far will this story take them? Just what will they lose?
This one makes you wait a little but the wait is worth it. Fantastic story of yore. Love, values, doing what's right - a horse who thrills - it's all here. Turn off the screen, sit back and walk into the forest.
Recommended by; Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
