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A review by rubygranger
Gregory and the Grimbockle by Abigail Kraft, Jared Kraft, Melanie Schubert
4.0
'Gregory and the Grimbockle' is a delightful book for younger readers and one that I will certainly be recommending to my eleven-year-old cousin; however, having said this, I also greatly enjoyed it myself, despite the fact that I lie outside of the recommended age range.
The book follows the story of a young, lonely boy named Gregory who, to his, his family's and his neighbours' distaste, has a large mole just underneath his nose. However this mole proves to be anything but a nuisance when Gregory finds that it is home to a small, purple 'grimbockle'. These creatures are responsible for maintaining the 'exoodles' which are a physical representation of the emotional connections between people. One evening, Gregory (and us too!) are introduced to this strange world and the adventure which follows is enchanting and magical -- it actually reminds me a lot of Roald Dahl's 'The BFG'. Gregory himself also shares some key traits with Dahl's 'Matilda': both protagonists seem mature beyond their years and are rather precocious (in a positive way!).
I loved that Schubert created new words for her novel (like 'exoodle' and 'grimbockle') and, whilst it occasionally meant that you had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it, the general effect was more than positive. It meant that you were able to more fully engage yourself in the magic of this story.
The music was similarly able to enhance the reading-experience. I have never read a book which has an accompanying soundtrack and I truly think that it is a revolutionary idea. One thing I will say is that the track lengths do not fit exactly to the chapter length (which is inevitable seeing as we all have different reading speeds) and I found this to be occasionally frustrating but not to the extent that I would say that I disliked the music. In fact, I love the soundtrack so much that I have been listening to it whilst studying!
The book is funny and light-hearted and the language is fairly simple meaning that it is a quick read. Nonetheless, the deeper values which Schubert touches upon are permanent, especially for younger readers. Schubert emphasises the importance of relationships and sociability in an increasingly isolated and digital age (which is directly criticised by the Grimbockle when he states that "currents and waves is damaging more exoodles these days more than anything else"). Schubert teaches her reader that goodness and friendship is up to you to implicate: a valuable message.
The book follows the story of a young, lonely boy named Gregory who, to his, his family's and his neighbours' distaste, has a large mole just underneath his nose. However this mole proves to be anything but a nuisance when Gregory finds that it is home to a small, purple 'grimbockle'. These creatures are responsible for maintaining the 'exoodles' which are a physical representation of the emotional connections between people. One evening, Gregory (and us too!) are introduced to this strange world and the adventure which follows is enchanting and magical -- it actually reminds me a lot of Roald Dahl's 'The BFG'. Gregory himself also shares some key traits with Dahl's 'Matilda': both protagonists seem mature beyond their years and are rather precocious (in a positive way!).
I loved that Schubert created new words for her novel (like 'exoodle' and 'grimbockle') and, whilst it occasionally meant that you had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it, the general effect was more than positive. It meant that you were able to more fully engage yourself in the magic of this story.
The music was similarly able to enhance the reading-experience. I have never read a book which has an accompanying soundtrack and I truly think that it is a revolutionary idea. One thing I will say is that the track lengths do not fit exactly to the chapter length (which is inevitable seeing as we all have different reading speeds) and I found this to be occasionally frustrating but not to the extent that I would say that I disliked the music. In fact, I love the soundtrack so much that I have been listening to it whilst studying!
The book is funny and light-hearted and the language is fairly simple meaning that it is a quick read. Nonetheless, the deeper values which Schubert touches upon are permanent, especially for younger readers. Schubert emphasises the importance of relationships and sociability in an increasingly isolated and digital age (which is directly criticised by the Grimbockle when he states that "currents and waves is damaging more exoodles these days more than anything else"). Schubert teaches her reader that goodness and friendship is up to you to implicate: a valuable message.