The Knight Who Wouldn't Fight: 1

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The story is told in rhyme, which I always love as I feel it engages the children more in the story. My four year old was captivated. The illustrations are bright and beautiful. The story is told in verse; the rhymes and lovely bouncy rhythm make it a delight to read aloud. There’s a warmth and gentle humour to the text too. Oh, and the dragon poo line made me laugh out loud! Closeness with a loved one when reading, also known as joint attention reading, not only brings comfort, it also helps children learn. This is emphasised greatly within the visual narrative by the fact that those Leo is joint reading with are supposedly scary beasts, highlighting further the transformative powers of book sharing. However, he doesn't fight like a knight normally would. He never even lifts his sword (except to point out that he has one). Instead, he takes out a book about whatever creature it is that he encounters on his journey and reads it to them! This settles down the creatures and allows him to continue on. It would be awful to finish this review without even mentioning the illustrations because they are central to this lovely picture book. They’re full of pastel colours that give off a friendly light, they’re full of minute details and tell they’re own story too – which is one of my favourite things about picture books in the first place. This is the kind of book that you could read simply by looking at the glorious illustrations.

Using witty rhyming text and a similar soft and comforting colour palette to the one used in The Snatchabook, The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight carries a strong message not only about the importance of reading, but also the power of reading and stories and how it makes us better people, people who choose reaching out over fighting, using references to mythical and traditional “baddies” to illustrate this in a way that children will understand. This might seem a romanticized, ideologized view of reading to some and I am sure many of the blood-thirsty dictators this world has suffered over the centuries loved books and reading, but the point of such a story is to show the wonderful possibilities that reading and sharing stories can bring us. Writing a picturebook aimed at preschoolers that shows that reading and loving stories makes you better at school, or gets you a better a job might work very well, but the best way to convey such messages is to confront them within a safe and entertaining terrain with themes they will understand and want to relate to (such as a being brave), and The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight manages to do just that, conveying big ideas in a setting that is exciting and appealing for the targeted audience. Thomas Docherty’s illustrations are gorgeous – cute animals and magnificent mythical creatures. There’s lots of lovely detail too; I particularly like the breakfast table scene where the light is streaming through the stained glass windows. Next, Leo arrives in a town where a dragon has been wreaking havoc and the townsfolk are too afraid to leave their homes. The dragon spies Leo and squares up for a fight. Leo tames him and gets him to tidy up the town by – you guessed it – promising to read him a story.

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This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. All in all this is a beautiful book with a magnificent and educational story trapped inside. Well worth a read and one I think adults and children will definitely enjoy together and apart. Picturebook enthusiasts know just how much louder than words pictures speak for the little people that read them; they express those feelings that can be so difficult to put into words. With The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight, Helen and Thomas Docherty have created a narrative which is exciting and entertaining with a big important theme at heart.

I adored the message this book gives young readers. It also let's them know there is nothing wrong with having your nose in a book. Leo's experience with his parents is something all book lovers have faced at one time or another. The Storybook Knight reminds us it is ok to be you, to do things different and above all to love reading.

I absolutely LOVE this book for children. First of all, the message. The message! The moral of the story here is this: you do not need to fight to get what you want accomplished, you can use your brain. And that, my friends, is what this world needs a little (or a lot) more of. If we can teach our children this, our future would be bright.