cover image The Red Prince

The Red Prince

Charlie Roscoe, illus. by Tom Clohoy Cole. Templar, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-8912-4

Game of Thrones this is not: debut author Roscoe and illustrator Cole (Wall) set this adventure in a modernish monarchy, and no one meets a gory end. But their story of a young prince defying an invading force while dressed in red pajamas certainly strives to tap into the high-stakes drama and chiaroscuro imagery of high fantasy. The invaders arrive as an eerie black-sail flotilla in the dead of a snowy night (one of Cole’s many bravura nocturnal images) after the unsuspecting inhabitants have “shut their doors and lit their fires.” Left alone by his parents, the Red Prince is captured and thrown into a dungeon, but he escapes with the help of his faithful dog, and a chase ensues across a frozen landscape. The people of Avala cleverly and sartorially rally to his cause, a turn of events that borrows a little from the classic “I am Spartacus” scene and a little from Where’s Waldo? Roscoe and Cole never let things get too dark or dire for the young prince, but the cinematic imagery and breathless escapes should keep the target audience rapt. Ages 2–5. (Oct.)