Captain Congo and his loyal offsider, Pug are back! This time, they’re off to the remote reaches of the Canadian Klondike gold fields, to sort out what’s scaring the miners away. But first they have to get there. It’s wilder than the wild west and the locals are very suspicious of strangers. They’re also quite superstitious. There’re rumours about monsters and ghosts. There is danger and adventure for the duo as the landscape and treachery challenge their progress. But never fear, when Captain Congo and Pug are near, the goodies will win the day! (even if poor old Pug, in the best tradition of offsiders, is tossed, pummelled, terrified and trussed before the day is won). Endpapers show a map of the location of their adventures.
Captain Congo and the Klondike Gold is a third outing for Ruth Starke and Greg Holfield in this graphic novel series. The main characters are animals: Captain Congo a large (lowland?) gorilla, and Pug a small penguin. They move freely and unremarked in each adventure, a lovely relationship that has Captain Congo uttering Sherlock Holmes-like observations, and Pug always playing catch-up. The adventures are wonderfully wild and liberally sprinkled with humour. This series will attract a similar readership to Asterix and Tin Tin, and will be retained in the bookshelves long after other books have been outgrown. Reluctant readers will love the graphic novel format. Recommended for upper-primary, early-secondary and reluctant readers. And ahem grown-up fans of the graphic novel format.
Captain Congo and the Klondike Gold, Ruth Starke & Greg Holfield
Working Title Press 2011
ISBN: 9781921504273
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
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