Good and evil clash in rollicking, fantastic tale of swamp
By Lisa Von Drasek |
July 14, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
KATHI Appelt can tell a story. She has published over 30 children's books, for everyone from toddlers to teenagers, and won awards, including a Newbery Honor, along the way. In "The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp," aimed at middle-grade readers, Appelt returns to the folksy narrative voice of her beloved picture book, "Bubba and Beau, Best Friends." Her mastery of pacing and tone makes for wonderful reading aloud, even to children who would happily take on a relatively long novel on their own. There is music in her prose: "For as long as raccoons had inhabited the Sugar Man Swamp, which was eons, they had been the Official Scouts, ordained by the Sugar Man himself back in the year Aught One, also known as the Beginning of Time."
At the novel's start, two young raccoon brothers, Bingo and J'Miah, who live in the swamp somewhere near the Gulf of Mexico, have just been promoted to official Sugar Man Swamp information officers, charged with heeding the Voice of Intelligence and waking the Sugar Man in times of trouble - if they can actually find him. The Sugar Man, protector of the swamp and its inhabitants, is a yeti-like creature with hands as large as palmetto ferns, feet as big as small boats and fur all over, like a bear. He has been slumbering "somewhere in the deepest, darkest part of the swamp" for over 60 years, guarded by an enormous rattlesnake. The narrator warns: "The wrath of the Sugar Man was something to avoid. His bursts of anger were legendary, which we'll discover soon enough. ... Brothers and sisters, the stakes were high."
In short chapters, in a style reminiscent of "Holes," by Louis Sachar, Appelt tells a mythic tale with a rich cast of characters. And as in Carl Hiaasen's "Hoot," the threat of an impending environmental disaster moves the plot along. The story flashes backward to Grandpa Audie (a human character, nicknamed for the great bird illustrator, Audubon) searching the swamp for a glimpse of the Lord God bird. In the present, his grandson, 12-year-old Chap Brayburn, grieves for his grandfather.
Appelt then takes her readers to spy on a greedy land developer, Sonny Boy Beaucoup, who is plotting with Jaeger Stitch, the World Champion Gator Wrestler of the Northern Hemisphere (her signature move: kissing the defeated reptile) to implement a nefarious plan to create an adventure theme park on the land, destroying the swamp habitat. And if that isn't enough excitement, a rampaging gang of huge wild hogs is headed in the direction of Sugar Man Swamp, wrecking everything in its path. "Mothers and fathers, lock your doors. Pull the covers up to your chinny chin chins. Head for the hills."
At the novel's start, two young raccoon brothers, Bingo and J'Miah, who live in the swamp somewhere near the Gulf of Mexico, have just been promoted to official Sugar Man Swamp information officers, charged with heeding the Voice of Intelligence and waking the Sugar Man in times of trouble - if they can actually find him. The Sugar Man, protector of the swamp and its inhabitants, is a yeti-like creature with hands as large as palmetto ferns, feet as big as small boats and fur all over, like a bear. He has been slumbering "somewhere in the deepest, darkest part of the swamp" for over 60 years, guarded by an enormous rattlesnake. The narrator warns: "The wrath of the Sugar Man was something to avoid. His bursts of anger were legendary, which we'll discover soon enough. ... Brothers and sisters, the stakes were high."
In short chapters, in a style reminiscent of "Holes," by Louis Sachar, Appelt tells a mythic tale with a rich cast of characters. And as in Carl Hiaasen's "Hoot," the threat of an impending environmental disaster moves the plot along. The story flashes backward to Grandpa Audie (a human character, nicknamed for the great bird illustrator, Audubon) searching the swamp for a glimpse of the Lord God bird. In the present, his grandson, 12-year-old Chap Brayburn, grieves for his grandfather.
Appelt then takes her readers to spy on a greedy land developer, Sonny Boy Beaucoup, who is plotting with Jaeger Stitch, the World Champion Gator Wrestler of the Northern Hemisphere (her signature move: kissing the defeated reptile) to implement a nefarious plan to create an adventure theme park on the land, destroying the swamp habitat. And if that isn't enough excitement, a rampaging gang of huge wild hogs is headed in the direction of Sugar Man Swamp, wrecking everything in its path. "Mothers and fathers, lock your doors. Pull the covers up to your chinny chin chins. Head for the hills."
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