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Junior
Oxford University Press
Paperback £8.99
ISBN: 0192719521
Reviewed by Patrick Barry
[Armadillo 6.3 Autumn 2004]
Measle and the Wrathmonk follows the adventures of Measle, a ten-and-a-half year old orphaned boy who hasn't had a bath for years, as he endures the miserable experience of his legal guardian, Basil Tramplebone, in a filthy, decrepit old house where the water runs brown. The one good thing about the house is Basil's magnificent train set, so when Measle finds himself trapped inside the train set by Basil's evil magic he needs to become a hero - quick!
This is a little boy's book, from its bright green cover, through Chris Mould's excellent spidery drawings that pepper the book, to the characters and the vocabulary itself. The characters themselves, while hardly deep, are well thought out and instantly recognisable to the reader. There are also some nice original ideas, such as the small black cloud that follows Basil everywhere as well as the whole mythology behind the magic.
The book cost £8.99, which would be expensive for a paperback, had it not a plasticized cover that will give it the longevity of a hardback. This is the start of a series to watch.