Lost in a Good Book

Published: 1st May 2017
Publisher: Scholastic
Illustrator: Shane Devries
Pages: 32
Format: Hardcover Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

The kings battles with the dragon were always mighty and loud… CLING CLANG CLONG! ROAR!

Boy lived in a silent world and couldn’t hear the fighting. But Boy could see the fear around him… and how everyone would be much happier.

Boy is deaf and he communicates through sign language Cummings calls “dancing hands”. Some of the villagers think he is strange but his parents love him and he tells stories by writing on the ground.

Cummings has written a very good book. This is not a book about Boy being deaf, his deafness does not help the problem, instead it acts as a means to get him in the situation where he can help the battle between the dragon and the king in his own way. I half expected the dragon to understand sign language to be honest and have Boy be the one to save the day by calming the dragon, but no. What Cummings has done is made a story where not only can anybody defeat a dragon regardless of who they are, but they can defeat it by being kind and understanding, and still be classed a hero.

This book was shortlisted for the 2018 CBCA awards and it didn’t win, but it could easily have come close. It’s a wonderfully sweet story with beautiful illustrations that bring out the heart and compassion to the story and mixes it with the fairy tale style of knights who battle dragons.

You can purchase Boy via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Angus & Robertson | Fishpond

QBD | Amazon Aust | Amazon