Book 9

I finished another book from my daughter's "Battle of the Books" this weekend. Perloo the Bold, by Avi. I'm starting to feel like I'm padding my list with these books, but I believe this was the last one. And I'd be way behind if I didn't count them. At any rate, they have been pretty good books.

I would have loved this book when I was younger and reading things like Watership Down. I've also heard that it's like the Redwall series for younger kids, but I've never read Brian Jacques. I may need to pick up one of his books.

Perloo has animal-like creatures as its characters, and uses them to examine aspects of leadership. That makes it sound more like a treatise, but it was actually a fun little story about the "Montmers" and the "Felbarts," two different rival animal tribes on the verge of a war. As the Montmers struggle with a change in the leadership of their tribe, the reader, or at least this one, asks what it takes to be a good leader.

My wife thought the ending was wrapped up too quickly with the war averted and Perloo making a monumental decision about his role in the tribe's leadership. It was a bit abrupt and maybe not entirely realistic, even if it was in keeping with the characters. But it was a good look at what being a leader means. Impressive for an elementary school book.