By Hormah Chinbuah
Louise Riley’s Parent Child Book Club has become an exciting dynamo of discussions, opinions, expression and activities around an utterly beguiling tale, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes! A delightful story of whimsy, adventure, and everything fantastic, will sweep you on a magic carpet ride to reveal enthralling worlds from afar. The Dickensian novel, about a ten year old orphan who loses his eyesight as a baby, is everything you would want your child to read and more. Living in a world of sheer poverty, hunger, and cruelty, Peter learns to survive under the auspices of the former beggar monger, Mr. Seamus. His blindness notwithstanding, his skills in thievery are enhanced by an uncanny sense of smell and hearing, which according to an omniscient narrator, is common to the blind. Peter Nimble overcomes a life of drudgery to become the greatest thief that ever lived, at the end of the story!
Ah, and what a story it is! The adventure begins one fateful night when Peter encounters an exciting haberdasher, is challenged to open a carriage with complicated locks, and uncovers a box with three pairs of magical eyes. Peter is soon transported to the Troublesome Lake where he befriends sharp tongued Sir Tode, the knighted horse, cat, and man, who becomes his best friend and sidekick on a quest to find the Just Deserts and the Vanished Kingdom. During the mission to find the Vanished Kingdom, Peter rescues the townsfolk from evil king Incardine, but best of all, an astonishing story unfolds revealing his heritage, a history, which has always been shrouded in mystery.
A captivating tale of fantastical proportions, this book will take you on a journey of self discovery which is as funny, perilous, ridiculous, dark, and light hearted as any of the greatest yarns ever told!
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