PETER NIMBLE AND HIS FANTASTIC EYES
By Jonathan Auxier
When a book starts with a small infant baby boy having his eyes plucked out by a raven it really must be read to completion. And so that’s what happen when I choose Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier for my before bed read. But ahead of getting way into the story discussion let’s talk about how this book came into my hands in the first place.
While attending ALA11 in New Orleans one of our biggest “Have To’s” was I had to meet Jeff Kinney, writer of the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid books. Me and Mar both are huge fans of those books and the movies; so I jumped into the first line I saw where I overheard someone was talking about the Wimpy Kid books but after the publisher handed us ARCs of a book we hadn’t heard of before Mar ran off to get something signed by another author she was looking forward to meeting and I stayed in this line.
After reading the back of one of the ARCs I was interested in getting a book signed for Mar’s library and also one for myself that I was thinking of giving away on my blogger.
I will say right away I’m not going to give away my copy of Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes, I really enjoyed this book and want to keep the autographed copy in my collection. No army of ravens or apes could take it from my hands. Though clockwork kings are pretty scary.
Back to the signing line talk.
When I got up to my point in line I had Mr. Auxier sign one copy to Mar’s library and the other just signed{once again, at the time I wasn’t planning to keep the book. MINE NOW!} Jonathan Auxier was very nice and it was really cool to meet a new writer who wrote a book I would recommend to anyone.
Now as I mentioned when I reviewed The Name Of The Star by Maureen Johnson while in New Orleans we barely had time to just stop and read anything; which was very strange for us being there for a book convention but I was writing during the trip also and Mar was Geocaching. We both were seeing and loving as much of the flavors of the city hitting historic sites and taking in the tastes you can only find in NOLA.
When we returned home from our Big Easy adventures I decided to add one book to read before sleep and one during Geocaching with Mar. The Name Of The Star fitted in as my travel read and Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes was there for before bedtime.
The Name Of The Star was such a great read it overran everything else and just before I finished it I started reading Peter Nimble. After finishing The Name Of The Star I knew even after only reading a few chapters Peter Nimble would be my main read for a while. Though it took me a long time to finish it, I’m a slow reader, that fact had more to do with my own writing taking over my free time than any comment on Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes.
I’m really not that slow of a reader but always have 800 things going on at once.
This book is adventure, it has the creepy nature that all middle grade high adventures should have, and has more than enough imagination to keep your brain moving at a fast pace.
I love seeing good reads like Peter Nimble and also such great books such as Tom Angleberger’s Horton Halfpott reaching back to the past and bringing back the great creepy and creative nature that once lived so vibrantly in middle grade and children’s books. That is slowly returning into our lives in my lifetime but we still need more creepy.
Creepy good.
Dark good.
Creative good.
And they do so without trying to copy other books. These books exist on their own as great reads that should be in everyone’s collection no matter your age. Peter Nimble fits that bill perfectly.
I say when Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes hits the stands in August go out and buy it. Buy it for a kid, buy it for a library who is underfunded {aren’t they all}, buy it for a friend, and don’t forget about buying it for yourself. You will not regret any purchase, for whatever plan you might have for this read.
Also though this makes a good read before bedtime, it’s also cool to read it while walking across a downed tree to get to the other side of a stream on your way to find a ammo box full of superhero toys.
PETER NIMBLE AND HIS FANTASTIC EYES
BY JONATHAN AUXIER
4 out of 5 Stars
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