TP-14.4

www.teachwire.net | 61 TEACH READ I NG & WR I T I NG reading experience. Engaging rhythms, evocative language and rhyme invite participation and performance, but it’s the iconic artwork that really sets The Hero’s Quest apart. Love also creates graphic novels for adults, and while the illustrations for this book are age-appropriate, they don’t pull their punches. Using a largely monochromatic palette, Love plays with scale and viewpoint to increase tension: dramatic forms are silhouetted against white backgrounds and there’s plenty of brooding disquiet beneath the narrative. With every page turn come “This story begins, as all storiesmust, with a rider appearing fromout of the dust…” Whether we’re reading about them, playing them in videogames or watching their adventures on film, tales of daring heroes still captivate us, just as they did when people first told stories by prehistoric fires. FromHercules andMulan to Zelda, Frodo and Luke Skywalker – not to mention real-world icons and celebrities – we seem to be hard-wired to love and learn from tales of quests and courage. In this picturebook, Jeffrey Alan Love distils ‘essence of heroic tale’ into a pacy, dramatic and hugely appealing new settings and challenges. Many focus on familiar tropes – watchful dragons, ravening wolves – but Love’s sophisticated artwork brings novelty and impact to every spread, and there are some unusual (and genuinely unsettling) dangers to be confronted. The Hero’s Quest delivers an intensely theatrical experience that will please a wide age range, andmakes a great starting point for cross-curricular activities. It’s worth saying that this story can be read in a non-gendered way – details could be interpreted as ‘boy meets girl’, but our hero really could be anyone. Go on an adventurewith Jeffrey Alan Love’s evocative picturebook The He o’s Qu st BOOK TOP I C CAREY FLUKER HUNT Book topic KS2 Published by Walker Studio, 2019