The Knight Who Wouldn't Fight by Helen Docherty and Thomas Docherty (Children's, Picture book, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

 4th August 2016, Scholastic, 32 pages, Paperback, Review copy 

Summary from Scholastic

Why should a knight have to fight? What’s so great about scaring people, anyway? Leo the mouse is a little knight who likes to read books, not fight. The others laugh – but he doesn’t care what people say. After all: how do you tame a dragon? How do you stop an angry troll? What should you do if a griffin attacks you? We bet you think a knight should draw his sword and fight! But Leo knows that most monsters just want to enjoy a nice cosy chat. And if you read them a story, they really love that. Especially if it’s about them…

Nayu's thoughts

This is the cleverest knight I've ever met! It's an unrequested read which I was thrilled to receive because Leo is adorable!! Minus the feathered bits of his tail, which I wasn't keen on. This is a book to gush over, from how all the characters are wearing medieval type clothes, the level of detail in the pictures which told a whole story by themselves and made me think of my beloved Bramley Hedge which is also about mice who wear clothes.

So before I got past the first few pages I already adored the tale. I think it's good that Leo is a boy who loves read because hopefully it will encourage readers to pick up a book that they are interested in. He manages to calm every beast without resorting to fighting which is a positive message for readers to hear. Leo has a trusty steed who made me giggle because Old Ned was almost always eating! There were few pages when he wasn't munching something. 

The shape of Old Ned instantly made me think of Thelwell ponies, who I haven't read for at least 20 years so have gone and bought an omnibus to laugh over (even though I feared horses when I was little, like now I enjoyed fictnal ones). This is such an incredible book, you must read it!!! 

Find out more on Helen's website.