The Adventures of Benny by Steve Shreve

Book Review of The Adventures of Benny by Steve Shreve

The Adventures of Benny by Steve Shreve is a collection of funny adventures-stories of a small boy called Benny. Though Benny’s stories may seem somewhat lame to most of us adults, I believe most of the little boys and girls will find them outright funny. There are 5 chapters in this book. Each chapter contains a different story. The stories are not related.They are just separate adventures where Benny, a small boy is the hero. Each story has a villain. But what’s special about Benny’s stories is that even the villains are ultra-cute. Here’s the summary by Steve Shreve,

A resourceful young boy’s adventures introduce him to a host of characters, including Bigfoot, a mummy, pirates, monkeys, and his very own Booger-Man.

In the first adventure Benny befriends a Bigfoot who is awfully smelly. Bigfoot in turn rescues Benny from the clutches of a wolf. That teaches you, a friend who stinks can be pretty useful at times. In his next adventure, Benny and Uncle Howard go to Egypt and digs up the mummy of King Butthankhamen. But there is a curse that comes with the package. The mummy comes alive and chases them. They hide themselves in a room filled with snakes. Will they be able to bring the mummy to the museum? That’s all in chapter 2. 

In Chapter 3 Benny and his father goes to fishing and takes up a job in the pirate ship of Captain Long John Underwear, who along with his crew hunts The Great Man-Eating Killer Squid. They hunt the squids for the ink and sell the ink to the ballpoint pen factory. Then there’s the Booger-man - not the Boogey-man who lives in Brookfield. He wants to eat Benny on the spot. That’s when one learns why it is useful to feed your dog the hot-dogs. 

Benny’s final adventure is on Monkey Island. He gets a treasure map in a box of cereals and sets out immediately. On reaching the island the monkeys capture him, but then they release him and apologise. Together they hunt for the treasure, and give the ghost a nice beating with a shovel.

The stories are simple, nicely written. There are black-and-white sketches on almost every page. The sketches were impressive and very very cute. A Bigfoot wearing underwear and socks, a mummy chasing Benny and Uncle Howard, the ghost with specs – the sketches alone will drive children into giggling feats. The illustrations were rendered in pencil and inked in Photoshop – by Steve Shreve himself, I presume. A gifted author of Children’s fiction. The Adventures of Benny took me to a world where anything is possible.

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The Botanist's Castle by Hesketh Tolson

Book Review of The Botanist's Castle by Hesketh Tolson

The Botanist’s Castle is the story of a boy, William whose long-cherished dream of entering the enchanted castle of The Botanist came true. Not everyone of us can be a botanist. I mean, you might have a few botanists among your friends. Everyone has. But a REAL botanist is a rare specimen of man. He’s much more than a scientist. He is not merely a lover of plants. William’s father explains,

A REAL Botanist is not just a scientist, but also a magician of all that is green and living, a worker of wonders and a pioneer of plantations! A REAL Botanist’s blood runs green and sticky with sap. A REAL Botanist can understand the plants around him as if his feet are rooted in the earth itself.

So now you know what it truly takes to be a botanist. When William’s father tells him the fantastic stories of The Botanist’s Castle, William feels a gentle longing to visit the place. His father is an expert in herbs. They have a small garden themselves. The business isn’t always good. Their house is ordinary, their foods are plain. But their life is filled with joy. Because they can be with what they love the most – plants. William has inherited his father’s love for greenery and as he hears his father’s wonderful stories, he secretly wishes to be a part of The Botanist’s Castle, somehow.

When winter comes, and his father’s business hits an all time low, the opportunity presents itself. William’s father had applied for the post of Herbalist and he was accepted. So the father and the son winds up their business, packs their bags and hires a wagon to The Botanist’s Castle.  On reaching there they get a bad news. The very old botanist who has been like a father figure of the castle had passed away. There they meet the assistant botanist, Mr. Appleby, who is also a friend of William’s father. Soon after this, candidates arrive for the post of Chief Botanist. Mr. Appleby takes them on a tour of the castle, as per the written instruction of the late Botanist. William and his father join them.

And the adventure begins.

About the adventure I will not mention anything here, because that will completely spoil the fun. I’ll just give you a glimpse of what you may expect – a lot of dark places, mythical figures, spirits, dryads carnivorous plants that seduces you with a song and a lot of magic. The old Botanist was wise, no doubt, because when he mentioned the tour in his will, he knew that the suitable candidate will be found. Indeed, the tour reveals a lot about the persons who came for the job. It may appear during the tour that the castle itself chooses who is and what is suitable for it. The castle, as described here reminds me of a video game Prince of Persia – Sand of Time. The description is so vivid that you’re actually able to see it before you. The tour is more like that in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, where the best and the worst of the candidates came out by themselves. I don’t know if this book is inspired by Roald Dahl’s timeless classic, but there are lots of similarities.

I spotted some editing problems in two places: in one place the word ‘was’ was italicised along with ‘the Botanist’s Castle’ and in another instance the word ‘sarcasm’ was misspelled. I hope these two minor errors will be corrected in the next edition. Also, it is my personal opinion that the author somehow seems to be excessively protective of Williams. He is the hero of the story. Having said that, the challenges he encounters through his journey, are surprisingly minimal. The book is a short novella that can be finished in an hour or so – something that the children prefer. Let me describe my overall experience in the words of the author Hesketh Tolson himself,

It was magnificent.

It was stupendous.

It was magical.

You don’t read the book. You just read the first few lines and the magic comes out of The Botanist’s Castle and grabs you and makes you glide through the book and it feels like you’re walking in a beautiful forest in your dreams. I believe the author is greatly inspired by the works of Roal Dahl. The way Botanist's Castle by Hesketh Tolson, ends with a poetic justice, reminds me of another book called Charlie's Chocolate Factory.

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Review of Cheeky Charlie by Mat Waugh

Book Review of Cheeky Charlie by Mat Waugh

I’ve not written a review in a while, because lately I haven’t read a book exciting enough to write about. But after reading the story of Cheeky Charlie by Mat Waugh, I thought I must let you know about this one. Who is Charlie? He is a three year old tornado that sweeps away about anything in its path. Wherever he goes he leaves a trail of heavy damage and destruction. Sounds like a pretty interesting story, right? Well, once you start reading it you know it’s more than just that. It’s 110 pages of total fun - the kind of pure fun you expect when you pick a Roald Dahl book. And indeed, I noticed the author had been inspired greatly by the prose style of Roald Dahl. There were also references of his books in two places.

Alright, now. About the the book.

Do you have a brother? I hope that if you do he’s strange too, because then you’ll know how I feel.

They are not just words. They aptly sum up the entire personality of a cheeky, little brother called Charlie. The stories of his amazing feats are simply unbelievable. So when his sister was asked at the school if she had been up to anything interesting during the holidays, she tells the story of her brother Charlie, and they hardly believed her. The story goes like this: two construction workers came to work in the garden. One of them had a tattoo of a naked lady on his back. Cheeky Charlie saw the tattoo and liked it immensely. He ran his finger over this tattoo – not once, nor twice, but every time he saw it, he wanted to admire it. On a certain day, there not having anything in particular to do, Cheeky Charlie, armed with his felt pens, he set out for something creative while the man took a nap on the grass.

And what did he say when he was asked about it?

‘Nuffink’, he said. ‘I done nuffink.’

He didn’t look like he’d done nuffink though. He looked like he’d definitely done somefink – and I knew what it was.

And it came up that the tattoo had undergone a complete renovation. The naked lady wasn’t naked anymore.

She now wore a pair of bright green trousers, and a purple and brown stripy top. And an orange hat. And she was carrying a blue handbag.

 There was this other story about Cheeky Charlie’s treasure hunting where he almost lost the Aircrew Medal, but of course I am not going to tell you about it. But I can’t help mentioning what happened when Charlie crawled under some of the sun loungers in a hotel. The car keys were missing, the suncreams were swapped, even the shoes were misplaced – as a result there was bit of a misunderstanding among the loungers and they pointed angrily at each other. By the time things turned real hot by the pool, Charlie was already back to his family. However, when the loungers started pointed at them, they thought it wise to slip away from the spot.

Funny stories such as these are written rarely these days. Though Cheeky Charlie was written primarily for children, a grown up man too can have a hearty laugh reading the stories. I loved it so much that immediately after finishing the book, I went to the beginning to read it again. It will be quite an understatement to remark Mat Waugh has an exceptional gift of story telling. I'd really like to read the other books in this series. 

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