Boy

PreS-Gr 2—The king of a large territory engages in ongoing warfare with the dragon that has burned his forest, neither side losing or advancing after each battle. Enter the hero of the story, Boy, who lives in a village on the edge of the kingdom and does not hear or talk, but instead speaks through sign language, drawing, and writing. One day Boy mistakenly walks into the middle of the fray, surprising the dragon and the king and his knights. When the knights attempt to shoo him away, Boy bravely asks via writing in the sand why they are fighting and then leads a laudable discourse in dispute resolution ending happily with a friendship between the king and dragon, and a newfound appreciation from the villagers for Boy's communication style. Devries's depiction of the make-believe kingdom is a conglomeration of settings in pastels and muted browns, part medieval Europe and part cactus-covered desert. The constant presence of pink and purple-hued skies gives the impression that it is always sunrise or sunset in this faraway land with its sparse landscape. With the exception of the boisterous king, the painted characters are homogenous but very expressive.