The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear

This charming and ingenious fantasy, beautifully illustrated by Moers, is not just a marvellous picaresque adventure on its own but it also feels like a repository of all fantastic images and ideas.

It seems to contain all other possible fantasy books within itself. There are monsters and quests and magicians and cancelled utopias and twisted fairytale romances. Bluebear rushes from one exploit to another, most of them potentially lethal, all of them amusing, and meets a host of peculiar, garrulous, friendly, treacherous beings.

It’s a large book but an easy one to read and yet it feels rich and profound… show more.

My son’s a young adult now, but I treasure the memories of the hours we spent reading together. We went down all the well-trodden paths and shared countless joyful hours with J.K. Rowling and Dav Pilkey and The Mysterious Benedict Society, but the creativity of this book is exceeded only by its humor. Also, it clocks in at around 700 pages, so it’ll entertain you and your children for a good while. I always enjoy a laugh as a reader, and if my work elicits a chuckle from you, then I feel my mission is complete.

Bluebears, as everyone knows, have 27 lives. Here we read of 13 of them. And a half. We read of Minipirates, ocean waves that teach speech, wise dinosaurs, nocturnal academies, and tornadoes inhabited by old men. Dizzying, hilarious, and tremendously fun, with gorgeous illustrations throughout, this book will charm even the most armored of readers.