This book 4 in the Once Upon a Tim opens where book 3 ended-with Tim, Belinda/Bull, Princess Grace, Ferkle and Rover tied up and sitting in a rowboat that is perched 1/2 way over an immense waterfall. Author Stuart Gibbs gets new readers, or those who have forgotten where book 3 ended, up to speed quickly, has a mermaid rescue them who then brings them to her father, the king of the merpeople who send them on another quest, this one to retrieve his golden, jeweled trident from the evil Prince Ruprecht.
And off they go—fighting beasts, imagined by Gibbs or from mythology, getting into more scrapes, meeting new people, trying to complete their mission but being foiled at every turn. And all along the way, Tim has good ideas but doubts himself, Ferkle is far from what his “village idiot” job implies, and Princess Grace keeps falling harder for Bull/really Belinda who she views as smart, brave and far superior to all the empty-headed princes her dad keeps pushing her way. Sketches by Stacy Curtis are frequent, wonderful and add to the humor that author Gibbs sprinkles liberally throughout the story. Also sprinkled throughout are the IQ Boosters, higher level vocabulary words that are already embedded in a context rich setting but are defined within parentheses to insure understanding and, hopefully, future use by readers.
Definitely not a Gibbs series for those who are already enjoying FunJungle and Spy School, but absolutely one that readers in grades 2-5 who are seeking humor, plenty of illustrations, and goofy action.
Representation: Bull/Belinda is illustrated as dark-skinned, Besotted (an IQ booster word) Grace is well aware that Belinda is only pretending to be male so she can be a knight, Prince Ruprecht is also darker-skinned, all other characters present as Caucasian.
Thanks for the eARC, Edelweiss.