Gryphons Aren’t So Great (Adventures In Cartooning)

James Sturm, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Andrew Arnold

ISBN # 9781596436527

http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/artStudio.php?artist=a3dff7dd55f39b

http://www.cartoonstudies.org/frederickfrost/

Bought to you by OBS Reviewer jerjen

Synopsis:

The Knight’s best friend is her horse, Edward. They go everywhere together and do everything together! But when the Knight gets a gryphon, suddenly all she talks about is how awesome her new pet is. Edward can’t help it—he’s jealous! But the gryphon turns out to be more of a peril than a pet, and it’s Edward who comes to the rescue in the end. It turns out that gryphons aren’t so great…but Edward sure is! The second of four adorable picture books from the creators of Adventures in Cartooning, Gryphons Aren’t so Great is a sweet and accessible story in the Adventures in Cartooning universe.

Review:

The Knight and Edward, her horse, are best friends and they love to play together and go on grand adventures.  But when the Knight spots a gryphon and is actually able to play with the gryphon, she leaves Edward behind.  Edward becomes sad and jealous and misses his friend.  After the gryphon gets a little too wild and endangers the Knight, Edward manages to save her.  The Knight realizes that there is really nothing that special about a gryphon, but there is something very special about her best friend, Edward.

I thought this book was very cute.  The writing style and word choice are age appropriate for a young reader.  The length of the book seemed appropriate, not too long or too short.  The illustrations were simple, colorful and complemented the story well.  The book looks like a comic book, so the younger reader can have some exposure to the world of comics.

I thought the lesson learned from this book is a good one for children to learn,  that lesson being that all friends are important.  Reading this book reminded me of the song I learned in Girl Scouts-Make New Friends But Keep The Old, One Is Silver And The Other Gold.  As soon as I finished reading this, that song came to mind.  And in my opinion, as I have grown older, the old friends are the truest friends.  After reading the story to my granddaughter, we had an opportunity to talk about friendship and how important it is to treat someone the way you want to be treated.  In my opinion, any book that helps with a discussion is a great book.

Another thing that I liked about the book, besides the story and lesson to be learned, is the instructions included to help with learning to draw.  Children and adults alike can learn some basic drawing skills and try their hand at creating their own Knight and horse.  This helps stimulate creativity in a young child, which is a great thing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading to the young child in their life.  This book would a great addition to a family or school library.  My granddaughter and I also enjoyed reading Sleepless Knight by these authors and I look forward to reading even more of their books.