The Knight of Little Import by Hannah Batsel (Carolrhoda Books, September 2023) shares the story of a girl who wants to be a knight, but finds there is not much excitement in the town of Little Import. Since she cannot travel to find dragons to fight, she reads her book of monsters trying to learn about them just in case she does get a chance to leave town. But soon she finds that there are plenty of monsters in Little Import to capture!
Armor-clad Charlie is happy to share her knowledge with those in her town: she just wants to help. She also is much kinder to the monsters than those other knights are. As she helps the townspeople, she finds that her town is much improved.
To me, the creative illustrations are the highlight of The Knight of Little Import. The majority of the scene and setting have a cartoon look, but as the cut-out illustrations overlap and various other media are used, the book becomes a visual delight. The three-dimensional illustrations make the characters and setting just pop off of the page. The art is so unique the paragraph on the copyright page lists 16 different media used to create the illustrations, include acrylic paint, homemade paper, pencil, embroidery thread, and so many more. The end result is a series of pictures that just blew me away.
Knights, monsters, and helping your community: The Knight of Little Import is a fun picture book to add to the shelf.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance review copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
