Tom Trueheart and the Land of Myths and Legends

Rarely has a hero been named as appropriately as Tom Trueheart – and all in spite of his many disclaimers to the title. ‘You see,’ he says at one point, ‘I am not a hero, I am just a simple boy adventurer doing his best to find his lost father.’ Well, this ‘simple boy adventurer’, hero or not, certainly does his doughty best in pursuit of his aim and in the process, accompanied by Jollity, the talking crow, finds himself travelling among some of the best known creatures and personages from the world’s mythologies. His enemy is the dastardly Ormestone, whose evil intentions are focused on accumulating as much gold as possible and on controlling stories or, as Jack expresses it, ‘bending them all to his twisted vision.’ Additionally, he has Tom’s father, the original Jack the Giant Killer, in his clutches: the need for rescue is urgent. With every encounter, every triumph of good over evil, the young boy’s heroic standing is enhanced – without, however, sacrificing his essential boyishness. By the time this particular ‘adventure’ ends, the reader will be able to rest content that the future of story has been ensured. Given the theme of his novel, it is wholly fitting that Beck’s own storytelling is free from all ‘bending’, instead preferring a straightforward, linear, carefully paced approach. His silhouette illustrations, generously scattered throughout his text, give his book an extra, attractive dimension.