Fearless Finn

Fearless Finn by Kristin Martin (Midnight Sun), RRP $29.99 Picture Book ISBN 9-781922-858733

Reviewed by Susan Hancy

With its large 300m x 300m format and vibrant colours, Fearless Finn begins with a blast. Literally. A dragon has just swept through the farm where Finn is milking Maude the cow and destroyed all the hay bales with her fiery breath. Finn is rightly terrified, but immediately makes a decision:

“I’ll help to set things right.

I’ll find that dreadful dragon…

and I’ll challenge her to fight.”

And so begins Finn’s quest. The path to take is not hard to find: the dragon has left a trail of destruction in her wake. First through a bee farm where all the trees have been reduced to smoking stumps, and then up into the mountains and past a glacier where a burnt goat has come off second best. This only strengthens Finn’s resolve to find and challenge the dragon. The beekeeper and goat herder that he’s met on route encourage his efforts and pledge their future support if Finn should ever need it.

As to be expected, Finn does find the dragon and, also somewhat expected, she has no desire to fight him. Instead, she begs for his help. She has a nasty case of hay fever and, of course, when she sneezes, what comes out?

You know it! Fire. Finn scratches his head but then comes up with an ingenious idea, drawing upon the earlier pledges for help. But this is where an adult will likely need to point out clues in the illustrations to help a young reader make the connection. (The target reader’s age is 3+).

The illustrations are fun, Finn’s homemade armour is impressive, and the recipe at the end is a sweet bonus. Even though the rhyme falters in a number of places, these other qualities are enough to set this book up as an enjoyable read for a young audience.