THE MISADVENTURES OF GAR THE GOBLIN

A kindly goblin prince tries to become more like his unpleasant peers.

Prince Gar the Goblin isn’t properly mean like his classmates at the Goblin Academy. He likes to cook, saves food scraps for hungry animals, admires beautiful trinkets, values friendship, and enjoys watching leaves drifting from trees. If Gar doesn’t change his nice-guy ways, he’ll displease his royal father and flunk out of the Academy. “We require a certain level of cruelty and unpleasantness from our students,” the Headmaster tells him. “You’re different. You’re too loyal. Too kind.” Thoughtfully conceived, this chapter book for ages 7 and up by Simon (The Adventures of Artie and Zac: The Witch and the Well of Magic, 2021, etc.) is an engaging fairy tale centered on a real-life dilemma for children who feel their authentic selves are at odds with peer and parental pressure to fit in. Simon’s “it’s ok to be different” message, repeated in various ways, is clear, but it takes a less direct approach to supporting a child’s sense of self than do books like Ben Brooks’ Dare To Be Different series of nonfiction chapter books. A witch, for example, tells the king not to turn Gar into a reflection of himself: “His spirit can only bend so much until it breaks.” Gar realizes that trying to prove he can be mean makes him unhappy, and he wonders what he’s becoming (“His recent cruel and unpleasant deeds didn’t make him feel worthy at all”), though depictions of “cruelty” in this age-appropriate tale are notably mild. Simon avoids preachiness with a leavening hodgepodge of entertaining fantasy elements—a cranky wizard, a harpy, a surprise shape-shifter, a rain of toxic frogs, and giant attack chickens—and he accompanies the well-spaced text with his own full-page, black-and-white ink drawings of the fantasy action. And in familiar fairy-tale tradition, as Gar realizes that he can advocate for himself and embrace his differences, his acts of kindness to others bring him an unexpected reward.

A clear “be true to yourself” message emerges in an engaging fairy-tale setting.