The Angry Little Knight

by Annette Langen, Katja Gehrmann (Illustrator)

Overview

The Angry Little Knight, otherwise known as Hothead, is tired of “practice” fighting. He wants a real adventure. But when he rides his trusty steed into the dark forest, he finds more than he bargained for: a little dragon that is just as bad-tempered as he is. Will the dragon eat the knight? Will the knight slay the dragon? Both little hotheads are in for a surprise, and the dark forest will never be the same again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735841109
Publisher:	NorthSouth Books
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

ANNETTE LANGEN is a children’s book author. Many of her books are “family tested” with the help of her two children. Annette’s most recent book published by NorthSouth is Our Very Own Christmas. She lives in Leichlingen, Germa

Editorial Reviews

Gr 1–4—This odd picture book begins well enough but falls flat. Sir Henry Oliver Theodor Herbert Egbert Albert Dewinterbottom, an angry little knight also known as "Sir Hothead," only practices battling. But one day, wanting real adventure, he mounts his steed and trots off into the forest, where he finds a baby dragon that has a bad case of the hiccups. With a feather from his helmet, Hothead tickles Dripdry, curing him. The two go swimming and have a campfire, eating sausages grilled by the dragon "with a single burst of flame," securing an unlikely friendship. Langen tries to keep the feeling playful, but the narrative and dialogue meander at times in lengthy paragraphs. The plot becomes too convenient when Hothead's horse, Roswitha, produces the sausages for the campfire, having cleverly remembered to bring them. The illustrations are colorful, but do not always support the text. For example, on one spread Dripdry finds himself alone in the forest and feeling threatened. "The branches of the trees looked like sharp claws…, his skin became all goose bumpy and his teeth chattered like ice cubes." Yet the branches don't look menacing, the dragon's scales show no signs of distress, and his mouth is closed, with no chattering teeth revealed.—Anne Beier, Hendrick Hudson Free Library, Montrose, NY

School Library Journal

An insubstantial offering about a young knight who finds real adventure better than make-believe. Young Sir Henry Oliver Theodor Herbert Egbert Albert Dewinterbottom, commonly known as Sir Hothead, is a little noble who takes great pleasure in poking things--mostly inanimate ones--with his considerable collection of swords, lances, spears, halberds, what-have-you. He slashes and reams his various targets with abandon and would be content to for quite some time, until he hears the dragon's roar echoing through the forest: It's time for true engagement. He has a mildly comical joust with the baby beast, cures its hiccups and gets covered with soot. All good fun; all rather unabsorbing. There is no quickening of the blood as Hothead races across the drawbridge, no worry about the damage the dragon might inflict. Benign is the word, not only in the story, but in the artwork as well, which, except for the dragon, has a palette as personality-free as frosting without food coloring. And the lesson here of trial by fire and finding friendship is perhaps too thin to discover in the story, even ironically. Evaporates nearly as completely as the smoke from a dragon's breath. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews