Saturday, January 14, 2017

The Forgetful Knight by Michelle Robinson -- ADVISABLE

Robinson, Michelle The Forgetful Knight, illustrated by Fred Blunt. PICTURE BOOK. Dial Books (Penguin Random House), 2016. $16.99.

The poor narrator is trying to tell this story about a brave knight, but keeps forgetting all the details. Is the knight heading out to fight a dragon? Or maybe a cat? Or a cactus? Or perhaps he's not going after a foe after all, but is planning to attend a party? Or movie knight? It's just so hard to recall!

With its rhyming text and hilarious voice, this silly once-upon-a-time story is practically made for read-alouds. (In fact, without an adult reading it, some children may find it rather confusing.)

As an aside, I shared this with my second- and third-grade students, and they found the humor spot-on and had a great time correcting all of the narrator's inaccuracies. It worked well for our lesson on setting, since many of the narrator's guesses about the plot often don't mesh at all with the perceived time period or locale. (Part of the hilarity, of course!) It would also work well for a lesson on point-of-view, especially in light of the fact that the narrator's POV is, well, not all that reliable.

EL -- ADVISABLE. Reviewed by Sydney G., K-6 Library Media Specialist

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