I received a digital copy of Gregory and the Grimbockle from Melanie Schubert in exchange for an honest review. It is a new venture by the debut author and New Wrinkle publishing with illustrations by Abigail Kraft and soundtrack designed specifically for individual chapters by Jared Kraft.
Blurb
“Ten-year-old Gregory is about to find out that the enormous mole stuck straight beneath his nose is not just a mole, but is actually a humpy crumpy portal of skin that hides a creature called the Grimbockle.
What’s more? The Grimbockle is just one of the many strange little creatures called Bockles tending to the mysterious threads that connect all humans from one to the other. It is a very important job and one that has long been carried out with incredible secrecy…
…that is, before tonight.“
Gregory and the Grimbockle is a book designed for middle graders of the 8 to 12 year age group but it makes a great short read for adults as well. The sentence structure and the flow of the book reminded me of Enid Blyton books and I read the whole book in the voice of the girl from The BFG. I was also reminded of Roald Dahl for the magical setting but without the inherent darkness of his books. The reiterating rhyming reminded me of Dr. Suess books but this one had more substance to it.
The book tells a story of 10 years old Gregory, a “bloomberbine” who finds that a Grimbockle uses his mole as a ‘humpy crumpy portal of skin’ to make its home. The boy befriends the creature in a totally non-self-conscious way that only children can. While interacting with the Grimbockle, he learns that the bockles mend exoodles of ‘hoo-mans‘. Exoodles that are now being damaged because humans have forgotten how to maintain friendships and relationships in the modern era.
The beauty of the book lies in the scene build up and the camaraderie that it creates. The story and sentence structure are not too hard for middle graders to follow but at the same time gently introduce a variety of new words and concepts that the children can easily grasp. The book gives us brilliant lessons on being happy with the appearance of our body and the importance of working on our relationships with family and friends. With Ethel and Ted, it teaches the necessity of looking beyond first impressions. It says that love conquers all and we should give people, even ones that are rude, a second and sometimes a third chance. It gives the children a reasoning for people’s meanness and shows that even when people seem uncaring or downright nasty, they can still carry inside them a softness that can be brought to the foreground with our nice gestures. People that are dark, hard, crusty and sad can be helped with our love and they deserve politeness and our good company.
The illustrations are beautifully made, simple and elegant. I can see it captivating children’s interests just as much as the actual story. It will definitely play a role in interesting younger children and adults into reading the book. I personally don’t like reading with music on but it might be a good addition for when we want to read the story aloud to children. Seeing that the book was created for them, a lot of children could be enticed into cultivating a reading habit with the help of appropriate music. The sound track that accompanies the book is very soothing and keeps in mind the mood of each chapter. My favorite was the score called The Exoodle Expressway. It was very upbeat and trilling.
Best feature: A wonderfully woven story with great lessons for children (and adults) without seeming condescending or preachy. It gives such feel-good vibes that I just wanted to gather my little nieces and nephews around and read the book out aloud to them. The illustrations were on point as well.
What are some of the books that were designed for children that you loved? Tell me in the comments below or on @the_food_and_book_life
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