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Life Of Zarf: The Trouble With Weasels (2014)

by Rob Harrell(Favorite Author)

3.98 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0803741030 (ISBN13: 9780803741034)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Dial

review 1: "Troll blood ... Yer stuck with it. And unfortunately, yer just abou' the age where it starts to rear its ugly head. You just have to learn to control it. Channel and use it for good."Being a troll makes middle school that much more difficult. Zarf and this best friends, Kevin Littlepigs and Chester Flintwater are at the bottom of the pile. Kevin, is the biggest worrier in the world and Chester, son of the court jester, is the most UNfunny person in any room. And when Zarf gets into it with Prince Roquefort and loses control, his classmates react in a negative manner. Especially when they find out King Cheznott is missing. He has gone out to hunt down the Snuffweasels and no one has heard from him since. Zarf finds himself in prison thanks to the newly crowned King Roquefo... morert. It is here he meets the Knoble Knight and when Ms. Locks (the lunch lady) bakes a key into a biscuit, the two are free. Zarf and his friends decide they must locate the King so that the country can go back to normal. Trained by the Knoble Knight, they head into the great unknown. "Be careful, you little Nimrods!" (Ms. Locks) But it is on this quest, that each character discovers their inner strength and contributes to the overall success of the mission.Funny stuff. Intertwines fairy tales with text messaging and current day slang, along with humorous illustrations and outlandish events: jousting on the back of swampfrogs, a treehouse in a Wishing Tree, sinking into a Honey Bog to name a few. I'm anxious for my students to read this one.
review 2: This review based on Advanced Readers Copy as procurred at BEA~May contain some minor spoilers. (names, tiny plot points, and such)~I really loved this book. I love that it was in the same style of Timmy Failure and The Odd Squad (which I just finished reading), but instead of being set in a modern middle school was placed in a fairy tale world. I wasn't sure how I felt about the inclusion of modern technology, but I think that it added an element of humor. The king was obviously in trouble because *gasp* he was unable to be reached on his cell phone. (Although, thinking about it, this is probably funny to me because I am rarely ever able to be reached on my cell phone.)I loved that the characters were important. Especially Zarf. I loved that they had to learn that who they were and the strengths they had were enough. I thought there were some quiet subtleties to the characters that kept them form being flat.Quite a fun read I highly recommend. less

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