Wiley Miller is the creator of the
newspaper comic strip “Non Sequitur,” and he fills his action-packed
“Ordinary Basil” chapter-books with many full-color cartoon illustrations
and a wonderful sense of adventure and outlandish possibility. Expansive
pictures and rollicking plots make these books a perfect fit for reluctant
readers and for fans of dinosaurs, floating cities, and all kinds of flying
ships and submarines. They are Grade-A adventure tales that are great for
serial reading, either out loud or individually. Miller has created two
books so far:
“The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil” by Wiley Miller
(Scholastic/Blue Sky Press, 9780439856652, 128 pages, ages 7 to 10)
This first book introduces young Basil Pepperell, an ordinary boy who lives
a boring life inside a lighthouse in Maine in 1899. Basil longs for
adventure, and adventure soon finds him in the form of eccentric Professor
Angus McGookin and his amazing hot air balloon. Basil eagerly climbs aboard
(with his mother’s permission), and the good professor whisks him away to
Helios, a futuristic floating city built in the clouds. There, Basil also
befriends Louise and her pet dinosaur Beatrice, a flying pteranodon, and
together the four adventurers fight back a robot army led by the evil mad
scientist Von Rottweil. When they save the secret city, it seems even
ordinary boys like Basil can become extraordinary heroes!
“The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil: Attack of the Volcano
Monkeys” by Wiley Miller (Scholastic/Blue Sky Press, 9780439861328, 128
pages, ages 7 to 10)
Basil’s brand-new second adventure begins when the diabolical Von Rottweil
delivers him back to his mother’s lighthouse along with a sinister message:
Louise and Beatrice are trapped on Monkey Island! This hidden base is Von
Rottweil’s floating laboratory, where volcanoes smoke and a kingdom of
powerful, super-intelligent monkeys plans an armed invasion of both Helios
the fantastic cloud city and Basil’s hum-drum ordinary world. With Professor
McGookin’s help, and using several pieces of futuristic musical technology,
ordinary Basil once again performs extraordinary feats to stop Von Rottweil
and free the captive good monkeys from the clutches of the bad. As always,
Louise is his partner in crime, playing her high-tech flute, which lets her
control machines and dinosaurs alike.
Miller’s strength isn’t so much in dreaming up new fantasy ideas but rather
in lining up familiar ones to perfect effect: everything in Basil’s path is
bright, bold, and exciting, and reading of his adventures will catch the
imagination of any rambunctious youngster.
Review by
Mark David
Bradshaw, February 6, 2008
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