by Moe Zilla

Created on: June 12, 2010

I love how this book blends the real world and magic. "Ryan crawled into the kitchen cupboard one morning while still wearing his pajamas," writes Jason Deeble, adding that Ryan "was on a quest." In the darkness behind the cupboard door, a spaghetti pot suddenly starts talking to Ryan, ushering him to an audience with "the king of pots." And soon there's another talking stack of pots - this one wearing a crown of forks.

It's always clear that Ryan hasn't really left his house - and yet he's able to have a grand and triumphant adventure using the power of his imagination. The king of pots (which, remember, is a stack of pots) offers "armor" for Ryan's travels to "the jungle on the mountain." And then Ryan - now called Sir Ryan - embarks on his quest by first leaving the kitchen cuboard. The "mountain" that he scales looks a lot like a staircase, but though the jungle resembles a clothes closet, Deeble writes that "the air was thick and heavy, and vines fell all around him."

In a way, this quest really did happen. Jason Deeble is now a Connecticut science teacher, according to the book's jacket, but his story was inspired by "his own fantastic adventures as a young knight. It looks like he illustrated the story using ink sketches and colored pencils, which give the adventure a cartoonish simplicity. And in a sweet touch, Deeble dedicates the story to his mother.

"'Who ventures into this uncharted wilderness?' asked a mysterious man perched in the branches overhead." But while Deeble's text faithfully represents Ryan's imaginary perspective, his illustrations show the truth. The face of the man is just a shirt that looks like a pair of eyes, and the rest of the body is just a hanging overcoat. "I am not afraid," Sir Ryan answers, noting that he's wearing the suit of armor given to him by the king. (Though the illustration shows that Ryan is just wearing an upside-down pot on his head.)

There's a "castle" in  Ryan's garage, and then a castle guard refers him to "the cave beneath the kingdom" (the cellar). I think ultimately this book is a lot of fun, with cryptic references to an exciting knight's journey, while it's really just a bright story about boyish enthusiasm. And when Ryan finally emerges from the darkness of the cave, his mother tells him he's been very brave. And then she adds that "a royal banquet will be held in your honor."

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