Sir Cassie to the Rescue

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

Cassie reads a book about knights and decides to act out a
damsel-in-distress sequence with her little brother Trevor. She wants to
be the knight. Her brother refuses to be a damsel but consents to be a
dragon. When the dragon refuses to do the traditional thing and die, the
family dog is pressed into service as the dragon. Eventually their baby
sister, Amanda, becomes the damsel, and they take turns playing the good
knight and the evil knight.

This is a wonderful evocation of children at play. In only a few page,
the author manages to capture the process that children unconsciously
use to a construct a private world from their imagination. Similarly,
with the aid of very little dialogue, the essence of sibling interaction
is distilled for the reader. When Trevor announces, “I won’t
play,” Cassie must adapt the game to accommodate him. When little
Amanda becomes bored, she breaks down the walls of the “castle” and
crawls into the “forest.” Reversal of traditional gender roles and
unexpected plot twists in a supposedly conventional fairy tale add a
modern touch.

The children use homemade props to create their imaginary world. And
this is where the illustrations—which are vibrant with colour and
action—come into their own. Swirls of ribbon serving as the castle
moat tie the individual components together and create a surreal effect,
as does the artist’s licence with perspective, which is nicely in
keeping with the imaginary, almost magical, theme. Highly recommended.