Reviews for The Ribbajack & other curious yarns

The average rating for The Ribbajack & other curious yarns based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-10-26 00:00:00 Mackenzie Perry Another great collection of scary short stories! Scary, yet fun, and the good guys triumph over bullies and the bad. Loved it.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-04-19 00:00:00 Morgan Doyne Chris Bancells Jacques, B. (2004). The ribbajack & other curious yarns. New York: Puffin Books. Short Story Print Selection tools consulted: School Library Journal, WorldCat, Review: Best known for his Redwall series, Brian Jacques turns his prolific pen to a darker set of stories in this volume. Six stories wander over the course of a couple centuries, and what appears to be much of the Irish countryside. "The Ribbajack", clearly the best of the bunch, takes place at a British boarding school in 1937. The malevolent Archibald Smifft discovers how to produce a terrible monster spawned by his own imagination. When he sets the creature "born out of human spite" (p.18) on a perceived enemy, the consequences are dire. In "A Smile and a Wave" the contemporary teen Maggie is forced to enter her empty school to retrieve a forgotten coat. In doing so, she encounters a piece of Britain's haunted past. This story is notable for Jacques' ability to wonderfully describe the foreboding brought on by an unnaturally empty hall. "The All Ireland Champion Versus the Nye Add" is an Irish fairy story in the most traditional sense. An average man, who has a bit of local notoriety, runs afoul of a mythical creature and does not come out better for it. In this case, great fisherman Roddy Mooney tries to hook the "Nye Add" and gets his line tangled in more ways than one. "The Mystery of Huma D'Este" follows a similar pattern, although there is a much greater sense of justice in the Greek-inspired fate of school bully Jason Hunter. "Miggy Mags and the Malabar Sailor" has nothing of the supernatural about it, but instead relates a Dickensian-style tale in which a young girl gets her heart's desire after escaping an overbearing grown-up. Finally, "Rosie's Pet" is a short, oddly sweet story of young love with a lupine twist. It's sure to give Twilight fans a smile. All in all, Jacques' collection isn't scary so much as it is entertaining and, well, curious. It makes for a good, if not totally absorbing, read, especially by the light of a dim lamp. Recommended.