The Taker and the Keeper

The Taker and the Keeper: The Red Monocle, Book 1

By Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin

Chiron Books

ISBN: 9781935178033

3.75 stars

Gregory Guest is a regular kid who happens to find a tunnel to another dimension.

At school, Gregory helped a teacher clean out a closet, and in a box full of junk, he found a small red monocle along with other glasses and assorted lenses. On his way home, he ventures into the woods to a small ravine that he likes to visit, and playing around with the lenses in the box, he finds the entrance to a tunnel. Not knowing anything about where he might be going, he enters the portal. Scared and worried by what he saw, he leaves and runs home wanting to be in the safety of his house.

The next day he feels as if the world has been turned upside-down. His happy family is now fighting for no reason, school was an embarrassing mess, and he feels alone. On his way home, he runs into his friend Yolanda, Yola for short, and not really knowing why, he shows her the monocle. She doesn’t have the same reaction but a pair of glasses he found in the box do show her the tunnel. Together they enter and find the world of King Arthur but a few things are not right about the story Yola knows so well. Suddenly, Gregory and Yola are off on an adventure to find Excalibur, the sword in the stone that will make Arthur king and bring the world back to normal.

This book is for children ages 8 and up. It’s a simple book and not much is explained except for the most rudimentary of things but for the target audience, it works. It’s a fast read, entertaining, and dare I say it, cute. The characters are likable and you want Gregory and Yola to succeed.

The story doesn’t have many scary scene but there are a few sad moments when Gregory remembers his mother who is suffering from a mental illness. It seems a bit heavy here but can be an ice breaker for talking to a child.

There are two more books planned in the Red Monocle series: The Death of a Good Wizard and The Invisible Foe.

This book was sent to me by The Cadence Group.