Genny Faces the Green Knight by Darrel Gregory – Book Review
Genny Faces the Green Knight by Darrel Gregory – Book Review
Genny Faces the Green Knight
Genny and Bug’s Big Adventures
Author – Darrel Gregory
Illustrator – Lizette Duvenage
Publisher – FriesenPress
Pages – 48
Released – 17th December 2020
ISBN-13 – 978-1525580987
Format – ebook, paperback, hardcover
Rating – 4 Stars
I received a free copy of this book.
This post contains affiliate links.
Synopsis
An adventure of courage, resilience, and self-confidence, Genny and Bug’s Big Adventures: Genny Faces the Green Knight features a young African Canadian girl named Genny and her sidekick, Bug, who embark on heroic adventures together. Using her imagination, Genny transports from the magic tunnel in her bedroom to Arthurian times, where she meets Queen Guinevere, who calls for help to stop the Green Knight from frightening her people. Although Genny valiantly steps up to battle the Green Knight, she is unsure of her ability to succeed.
Along her journey, Genny learns that she will have to tap into her own resilience as well as accept help from those around her in order to face her most daring challenge. From the tips of her toes to the hairs on her head, Genny begins to “feel” her confidence grow. Children will rejoice in and be inspired by Genny’s bravery, personal growth, and appreciation for the world around her in the first book of this must-read series….
Review by Stacey
Young Genny likes to go on adventures. When she is at home her favourite toy is a ladybird (Bug), she also has a raven and a coyote that she is not so fond of. That is until she crawls through her magic tunnel, then the toys come to life.
With her trusted friend ‘Bug’ by her side, Genny enters the tunnel and appears in the time of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. The two friends are just getting to know the Queen when the mysterious Green Knight appears. Genny wanting to be brave offers to battle the Knight, but a few surprises are waiting for her mid-battle. Will she defeat the Green Knight and who is the mystery man?
I think all children at some point have fantasised about their toys coming to life, as well as going on adventures, being brave, and heroic. In Genny Faces the Green Knight, Genny is having a wonderful time, travelling back in history and meeting royalty, as well as having to be brave.
I love that her choice of sidekick is a ladybird. I also love that she seems to have two nemeses of her own from her toys, Raven and Coyote who like to cause mischief.
The book is illustrated beautifully and it was wonderful to see all the characters, including Genny in full armour battling the knight, showing how brave and courageous young girls can be.
There is a fair amount of text so I would put this at the younger end of middle grade given that it is only 48 pages long and the plot felt quite young. There weren’t any complicated words to decipher either.
It is a lovely tale that gives a nod to children about being brave and that they can do something if they put their heart into it. It is the first book in a planned series and I can’t wait to see more from Genny in the future.
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Darrel spent most of his career in communications. Writing, planning, issues management—that sort of thing. For the past 15 years of his career, he was a director with a national health charity. Budgeting, strategic planning, performance management, donor relations—that sort of thing.
Then a strange, deeply unsettling thing happened. He woke up one morning experiencing a sort of Jungian crisis of identity. The big questions floated (although that hardly seems like the right word) through his consciousness. Who am I? What have I been doing? As Joseph Campbell might ask (whose work on the hero journey is the basis for Genny & Bug) is my nature (small ‘n’) aligned with Nature (the universe, consciousness, being, whatever you want to call it). The answer to that last question was a resounding ‘no.’ He was a fraud and was living a lie. What else was there to do but quit his job? Nothing says “all in” quite like quitting your job and turning your life upside down. After spending the last five years of his so-called normal career in Calgary, he is now back in Edmonton, close to his children and grandchildren.
