Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil

Grade 3–5—It's 1899, and 12-year-old Basil lives in a lighthouse on the coast of Maine. A dour, gnomish lad with an oversize head, he longs for adventure. When a balloon piloted by a kindly, mysterious man appears outside his window, the boy leaps aboard and soars off to a fantastic city in the sky. Professor Angus McGookin has brought him to Helios, the home of a secret, advanced society, and Basil is soon caught up in an adventure involving evil scientists, pteranodons, and mechanical armies. Miller's plentiful, full-color cartoons expand on the story, but there's little invention or character development in this rambling story. The narrative flow is clunky, with awkward shifts in perspective from Basil to that of an all-knowing narrator. Miller, creator of the comic strip "Non Sequitur," has crafted a hybrid picture book/short chapter book, but this tale fails to fulfill the promise of its attractive design.—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
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Miller, who is known for his comic strip Non Sequitur, expands a story that first appeared in the Sunday funny papers. Basil, who is 12 but seems younger, finds his life tedious until a stranger whisks him away to a secret floating city, where he meets a new friend and stumbles upon a plot to dominate the world. Miller's lack of experience with longer narrative forms shows in the simplistic story arc and thin characterizations, and also in the episodes' choppy flow, in which the rhythms of a serialized cartoon are still apparent. Even so, the book's unusually plentiful illustrations make this worth a second glance. Varied in size and design, the full-color artwork amplifies the contrast between Basil's pinched, austere appearance and the extravagant wonders he sees--from flying reptiles to a boat suspended beneath a hot-air balloon. Together with such visuals, the spaciously designed text and plot-driven action will help struggling readers (or those new to chapter books) build confidence. An open conclusion hints at future installments. Jennifer Mattson
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