Mightier Than the Sword

Gr 4–7—This story is about you. You wake on a beach, not knowing your name, carrying only a pencil. You find an SOS message in a bottle from Prince S. You encounter strange creatures in a land called Astorya where everything is fictional except for you and your pencil that can write things into life. You meet Manteau, the French stoat, and learn about couriers and their mission of collecting and preserving stories. You and Manteau endeavor to rescue the prince from the conniving and frightfully precious Queen Rulette. The prince may be able send you back to your own parallel universe but only if you find him before midnight. You hope to stop Queen Rulette from destroying Astorya with her cruel eraser. Picture this reader-protagonist story as an extended Mad Lib told in second person point of view. Corny puns and snarky Snicketlike footnotes presume a sophisticated reader who can appreciate this self-aware story. Add gross mentions of poop and sphincters and the tale appeals to readers of Andy Griffiths's The Day My Butt Went Psycho. Imaginative settings, mapped out like a bizarre Candyland, draw the action forward, although there is no character development—how can there be if the main character is you? Librarians should know there are places for readers to write in the book, although not so many it would entirely prohibit its purchase.