Craig Cormick – Aussie Reviews

Valdur the Viking and the Ghostly Goths by Craig Cormick

When the Goth pirates attacked his father’s ship, Valdur was hiding in a barrel of pickles with his pet dragon, Ragna. He heard his father cry out, ‘By Odin’s hairy toes, it’s the Goths!’ Then there was the sound of lots of fighting. And, right next to him, there was also the sound of the last pickle being eaten.

Valdur and the few remaining ghost Vikings are on a mission to save his father and the rest of the crew after they are kidnapped by his deadly enemy Germanicus Bottom and his shipload of ghostly Goths. To help Valdur, there’s a lookout called Ivar Lostoffen, a cook called Reiner Rankbreath who looks like a cow, his apprentice Hilda, and Gunnar Shortas, the midget cabin boy. And of course Ragna, Valdur’s dog (who just might be a dragon). There is adventure to be had, danger to be overcome, bargains to resist and real non-ghost ships to avoid if they are to have a chance of effecting a rescue. Each chapter includes ghostly illustrations by Hanna Cormick.

‘Valdur the Viking and the Ghostly Goths’ is a comically spooky Viking, Gothic adventure for young independent readers. Valdur doesn’t really want to captain his father’s ship – he would rather just be playing with his dog/dragon. But someone has to take charge and it has to be him. He blunders and bluffs his way along, with and despite the assistance of his incapable crew, overcoming piracy attempts and almost-detections by living humans and their ships. Embedded in the humour and the adventure are titbits about Goths and Vikings and life at sea. Recommended for newly independent readers in junior- mid primary years.

Valdur the Viking and the Ghostly Goths, Craig Cormick
Ford Street Publishing 2016
ISBN: 9781925272420

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Benji the Buccaneer by Craig Cormick ill Bill Hope

Benji stood unhappily at the bus stop, trying to imagine all the things that were worse than the first day back at school after the holidays. So far he had thought of magpies pooping in his undies when they were hanging on the line. Or his older sister using him for make-up practice while he was asleep. Or possibly a zombie invasion.

He was still thinking about zombies when he saw a strange-looking double-decker bus coming slowly up the street towards him. It was black and old and looked a bit bent out of shape. He heard its engine moaning and growning as it came up the hill. It wasn’t even a particularly big hill.

Then, to his surprise, it stopped right in front of him, and the door slowly hissed open.

Then, to his surprise, it stopped right in front of him, and the door slowly hissed open.

Benji is waiting for the school bus and isn’t sure he’s ready to go back to school for another year, although if pushed, he can think of worse fates. When an unfamiliar bus collects him and he’s offered an opportunity to make a choice, he decides that he’d like to be a pirate. A buccaneer. It seems that Benji is in charge of this adventure so he has to define just what a pirate is, and what a pirate does. He and his motley crew spend the day in an adventure that is defined by his knowledge – and lack of knowledge – about pirates and their activities. A final encounter makes him question his wish to be a pirate and offers him an alternative view of school. Full colour illustrations appear on each opening, with chapter numbers also telling their own story.

Benji the Buccaneer is a new story from the Little Rockets series from New Frontier Publishing. Each chapter book offers widely spaced text and illustrations on each page to help make the transition from fully illustrated texts less daunting. Benji is offered an alternative to school and happily, if slightly confusedly, takes it. As the adventure unfolds it becomes clear that his education has some gaps and perhaps there is a point to it after all. Benji is in charge of his adventure, despite it being peopled by an odd assortment of other characters. And it is Benji who finally decides his final destination at the completion of this adventure. Recommended for lower- to mid-primary readers.

Benji the Buccaneer, Craig Cormick ill Bill Hope New Frontier Publishing 2014 ISBN: 9781925059052

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Time Vandals by Craig Cormick

Mai didn’t even have time to scream. The two men grabbed her at the end of her street and threw her into the black van. One had half-shoved a gag over her mouth before she started lashing out. She looked into the eyes of the man in front of her, a near-bald bulky thug, who was trying to get a sack over her head. She kicked him in the middle of the forehead, and then spat the gag free.

The black van pulled up down the street from Jacque’s house and the three men had a clear view of him standing halfway up a wobbling ladder, trying to reach his bedroom window. He had stopped climbing momentarily and looked around. An odd feeling that something wasn’t quite right had filled him.

Two very different teenagers from opposite ends of the world (Sydney and London) are kidnapped and taken to Switzerland. Mai is an Olympic athlete and academic. Jacques loves computer games. For reasons that take some while to be clear to them, they are particularly suited to time travel. Their first surprise is that they are not French. But there is no time to spend understanding, only time to be travelling. Mei and Jack, accompanied by knowledgeable if unexpected others are off to the past to save the world. Along the way there are challenges that need their disparate skills. Time changes everything.

Time Vandals is a crazy romp through time and history. Mai and Jack appear to have very little in common beyond eye colour, but it is important that they find ways to work together if the world is to be saved. There is very little about any of their worlds that can be taken for granted, and they must be constantly adjusting their perceptions and expectations. Each character has the opportunity to shine. There is also the opportunity to see what could have happened if the outcome of historic military encounters had been different. From Napoleon to zombies, from cats to gargoyles, ‘Time Vandals’ is action-packed and hilarious. Sure to appeal to upper primary and early secondary readers.

Time Vandals, Craig Cormick
Omnibus Books 2012
ISBN: 9781862919471

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online.