Nicobobinus

by Terry Jones, Michael Foreman (Illustrator)

Nicobobinus and his friend Rosie go in search of the Land of Dragons and find more adventure than they'd bargained for.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Adventure, Fiction, Young Adult, 20th Century

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Terence Graham Parry Jones was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report, before creating Monty Python's Flying Circus with Cambridge graduates Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle and American animator-filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punch lines. He made his directorial debut with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
Jones co-created and co-wrote with Palin the anthology series Ripping Yarns. He also wrote an early draft of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth and is credited with the screenplay, though little of his work actually remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval historian, having written several books and presented television documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's author. In 2016, Jones received a Lifetime Achievement award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards for his outstanding contribution to television and film. After living for several years with a degenerative aphasia, he gradually lost the ability to speak and died in 2020 from frontotemporal dementia.

Reviews

[Alex Barron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might have been my favorite book during years nine through eleven of my life. It seems never to have developed anything more than a tiny cult following, but I still remember it fondly. Nico's journey to the abbey, onto the ghost ship and to the land of dragons are all permanently embedded in my memory.

[Louisa Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

My uncle left this book for me when I was about 6. I remember it as being HUGE, a hefty hardcover, and I felt so grown up just holding it in my hands. It is the first book that I remember falling into, where I'd be so wrapped up in the story that when I finally managed to pull myself out of the fantasy, my neck hurt from bending over the pages, and hours had passed. So fun! I need to find my copy and reread it. It's been years!

[Jack Fallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't read since I was young, but remember loving it. Surreal adventure.

[Rich Baldry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terry Jones's books for children are great fun stories that really stimulate the imagination. As you would expect from one of the Monty Python team, his stories have settings that appear on the surface to be classical and traditional - in this case, medieval Venice, but they take that start point and then just riff away in a manner that manages to be surreal while remaining grounded in real storytelling.

Nicobobinus is no exception. Egged on and supported by his friend Rosie, he goes through a series of Odysseian adventures with a steely determination and a light heart. Faced with danger, cruelty and tests of endurance they learn about the world and about each other. They also encounter some very silly creatures and some even sillier people.

[Ceridwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Foreman's illustrations were fantastic as always. They were colorful, accurate, alive with expression and detail. The story was nonstop action and adventure, which became a bit tedious to me. There were many imaginative twists that I expect from Terry Jones, but I didn't care too much about the characters.

[Srinivas Gowda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to read

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this book was recommended to me by someone whose judgment I usually prize quite highly, but obviously that was a huge mistake. Actually, I think this person is just trying to expand my tastes, but little does he know that I'm already pigeonholed into quite a narrow window. Oh, well. It's noble to try.

Anyway, I had the hardest time following what was going on in this book. I'm sure some people would find it hysterical, as it's written much in the style of Terry Pratchett and Philip Ardagh (the former being another author whose work I have trouble following, and the latter being an author whose writing is just jumpy enough for me to wrap my head around), but I thought it was boring. Well, until the last fifth of the book, at which time it got way more interesting. Unfortunately, the interesting part (Nicobobinus and Rosie going into the boiler room and the few chapters afterward) was short-lived and not nearly interesting enough to make up for the rest of the book.

I also couldn't bring myself to care much for either Rosie or Nicobobinus. I also hate the format of jumping from adventure to adventure without building layer upon layer of development toward the ultimate adventure and climax. I guess you could argue that there was some buildup in this book, but it seemed so scattered to me. For example, this Doctor Sebastian dude is mentioned once on a ship, when he's thrown overboard, and then he isn't mentioned again until about 50 pages later, but the author expects you to remember him anyway, even though it's only a 175-page book. Whatever, Terry Jones, I can't be bothered to remember the name of some weird doctor who comes and goes as he pleases when you've stuck in about 238497 other one-off characters in the book and none of them is even two-dimensional or in any way memorable. NO THANKS.

[Fariha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone between the ages of about 7 and 12.

A fun, nonsensical, silly story detailing the madcap adventures of Nicobobinus and his friend Rosie, who are searching for Dragon's Blood.

They encounter all manner of weird and wacky characters along the way. Something about this story just stuck with me, I always remember it and sometimes come back to it just for the comfort.

Wonderfully bizarre.

[David McGrogan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember loving this as a child, but on re-reading it feels almost like Jones was making the story up as he went along. A shaggy-dog story, basically, with some charming and intriguing moments, but of no particular interest to an adult reader.

[Rachel H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this novel when I was young and recently read it to my daughter as a bedtime story. Parts of it are completely off the wall - the rainbow lake of leopards for example. What was Terry Jones on when he wrote this?! A fabulously creative adventure perfectly aimed at imaginative children.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book features some mean-ass monks and other upsetting characters and themes. Terry Jones is brilliant, but this book is a bit hard-core for kiddos.

[Harriet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that book!

[Daniel Currie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this 2.5 stars if they had that rating.

I don't have a clue who this book was aimed at. If it was aimed at the 9-10 age range there would be dozens and dozens of words they would never know. If it was aimed at a little older audience, I'm not sure they'd be too enthused by it. I can't say I was too enthused by it myself. It just never came together for me. I am a huge Monty Python fan but this doesn't have too much of what made them famous. A disappointment.

[Leigh Millar · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mum read this to me and my brother when we were little. It always stuck in my mind so when I saw it second hand I had to get it to read to my son.
A good fun story, exactly the crazy wacky romp you’d expect from Terry Jones.

[Hafsa Qadeer]

Cool read it it in my school and still remember it should read

[Luna Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice

[Rinzen Rangari]

Nice book

[M Hasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do we do to read this chapter

[Kumjum Lohani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Bella]

A irreverent bit of nonsense.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should've realised a children's book written by a member of the Monty Python team would be surreal! Another 'read-aloud-to-our-boys' books, who were largely unimpressed!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review by Jack (age 10): "I liked all the different dragons and the pirate monks and the Black Ship."

[Hodei Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Umeentzako liburu zoragarria. 43 urte ditut, eta oraindik gogoan.

[yexxo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicobobinus und seine Freundin Rosie suchen gemeinsam das Land der Drachen. Was aus lauter Neugier begann, wird jedoch nach kurzem eine eilige und wichtige Angelegenheit. Denn der Goldene Mann hat Teile von Nicobobinus Körper in echtes Gold verwandelt, das nur durch Drachenblut wieder in richtige Körperteile zurückverwandelt werden kann. So versucht nun eine Menge finsterer Gestalten, an diesen Schatz heranzukommen. Die beiden Kinder entfliehen Piraten, falschen Mönchen, durchqueren sehr sonderbare Gebirge und treffen immer wieder auf ausgesprochen merkwürdige Geschöpfe, die andere Menschen noch nie gesehen haben.
Terry Jones lässt hier seiner Phantasie freien Lauf: Zauberschiffe, Einsiedlergnome, singende Leopardenseen - nichts ist ungewöhnlich genug, als dass es nicht seinen Platz in dieser Geschichte finden würde. Spannend, aufregend, abenteuerlich, witzig und auch furchterregend bietet dieser Kinderroman wirklich alles, was ein Kinder- (und auch ein Erwachsenen- :-))herz begehrt.
Drei Sprecher hat dieses Hörspiel: Nicobobinus und Rosie werden überzeugend vom damalig 12jährigen Julius Schmiedel und der 11jährigen Nele Hippe-Davies dargestellt, Karl-Heinz Tafel gibt glaubwürdig den Erzählrahmen und die weiteren Personen der Geschichte wieder. Ein kleiner Wermutstropfen trübt das Ganze: Ursprünglich wohl als Fortsetzungsgeschichte für das Radio gedacht, erfolgt zu jedem Kapitelbeginn eine Zusammenfassung des bisher Geschehenen. Hört man sich alles am Stück an, ist dies mit der Zeit nervend, da man diese Teile nicht überspringen kann.
Aber sonst: Einfach klasse Unterhaltung!

[Thomas Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the Ocean of Mountains: Nico walks up a mountain all day, gets to the top, stops for the night; in the morning he's back at the bottom, repeats . . . Until the mountain man tells him the mountains are (slow-moving) waves: wait 'til you're at the top, then walk down at wave speed. Like surfing, it's downhill all the way.

But:

The action is insufficiently motivated, disjointed. Like a dream, a little moreso than a story.

So no, not a gift for an 8-year-old.

There's an occasional very nice drawing to go with the story.

[Henry Gough-cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

We couldn't find our copy of this for our grandchildren, which was a favourite of our children back in the day, but I managed to find a second-hand copy on Amazon. Not as good as 'Erik the Viking', but great fun nontheless. The copy I have is a rather scruffy paperback with black-and-white illustrations, but I seem to remember our original copy was large format hardback with full-page colour pictures.

[Chanelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an utterly charming children's novel. Rosie & Nicobobinus have the greatest friendship, and I loved the descriptions every person and place they came across. Also, the dragons were unexpectedly hilarious.

[MaryAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this out loud to your favorite child. Fun for grown-ups, too.

[Gattu]

good

[Stephen Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicobobinus and his friend Rosie set off to discover the Land of Dragons.

I read Nicobobinus. My daughter read Nicobobinus. My son read Nicobobinus.

Five stars x 3