Fearless Dave Book

Dave is truly fearless — whether valiantly battling the family cat (much to his mom’s chagrin), or bravely saving Princess Peach, Dave can do it all. Princess Peach has a problem: it’s small, it’s gray, it squeaks, and it eats cheese. She requires a chivalrous knight to rescue her. Dave’s mom thinks he’s perfect for the task, but only those who read this charming, whimsically illustrated book will know how the adventure ends.

Children's Literature

Dave's complex, delightful, and romantic story is told in large, graphic-novel style boxes, with tongue firmly in cheek. Through all the "heroic knight" bombast from the introduction on, Dave's sensible mother periodically gives us the story of "what really happened." Professor I. Noah Lott is guiding a tour of the castle spouting pedantic rhyme, while the real story begins as Dave sets out to help a princess in distress. The lovely princess herself, it soon is clear, was originally terrified not by a "terrible creature," but by a mouse. With his mother's sage advice and help, Dave soon "saves" the princess, who fortunately likes him. The play between the rhymed romantic nonsense of the guide's tall tale and the actual events is great fun. The comedy almost demands cartoon characters, all with round glasses, sketched in ink and enhanced with Photoshop, as Dave is a country dolt, the princess a frizzy-haired blonde. The action is kept moving by having the text of the story delivered in speech balloons, while the rhymed history is set in a more florid type than the regular text. Jolly good fun.