Books: Augie and the Green Knight

I've participated in plenty of Kickstarters, but few as whimsical as the one for  "Augie and the Green Knight", a children's book written by Zach Weinersmith (of SMBC) and French comic artist Boulet. If you like quirky stuff like the promo below, you're probably going to like the book:



The story's heroine is Augie, a young girl from our time who stumbles into an enchanted forest one chilly day. There, she finds the treant-like Green Knight, King Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table. After Sir Gawain decapitates the Green Knight in a playful beheading game (to no ill effect), Gawain learns that he must come to the Green Knight's castle in a year to be decapitated in turn. Can Augie help Gawain avoid this fate with the power of law and logic? Will the Green Knight ever learn that people don't like to be decapitated? Why is there a newt here?

The book is a charming, modern (but mostly faithful) take on the centuries-old tale of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Like all good children's books, there are some lessons to be learned (Augie is smart, but not wise, and eventually figures out that rules need reasons), but the lighthearted illustrations and tongue-in-cheek narrative make sure you don't take it too seriously. If you have a kid, this would be a great book to read aloud to them, a chapter at a time, until Sir Gawain's quest reaches its conclusion.