The Fortress of Kaspar Snit [Paperback]

Cary Fagan (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Chosen for inclusion in the reading list for the 2006 Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award


Kaspar Snit is a villainous villain who is determined to steal all the fountains in the world. Why? Fountains are beautiful and give people pleasure, two things he can’t abide.

Can a family of four who love fountains rescue them from the hands of this dastardly scoundrel? Especially when that family is made up of the four most eccentric individuals you’d care to meet?

Eleven-year-old Eleanor, eight-year-old Solly, better known as Googoo Man, and their parents, who are, to say the least, odd, set out on a hilarious quest over mountains and across the seas to storm the fortress of Kaspar and retrieve the lost fountains.

Cary Fagan’s first novel for children is a fun fantasy that will keep young armchair travelers laughing right to the exciting end.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6–Eleven-year-old Eleanor Blande wants to fly just like her mother, but her parents have decided that they want their children to grow up as normal kids. Eleanor's father is a world expert on fountains, and when the famous ones in Rome begin to disappear and the Blandes' front-yard fountain gets hauled away by black helicopters, the family members decide to take matters into their own hands. Eleanor has surreptitiously discovered the amulet her mother uses to fly and now it's OK for the family to use it to travel to the fortress of the evil Kaspar Snit. It's fine for fantasy to have improbable plot elements as long as there is an inner consistency for the way the rules work. This book lacks that consistency, and Fagan hasn't created, among other things, a credible explanation for how Snit was able to steal Rome's fountains. The ending degenerates into a Scooby Doo-style confrontation between the Blandes and Snit, with the requisite ridiculous dialogue. The villain's minions make an immediate and improbable 360 degree turn to the good side when he is captured, saying, "We've had enough of your evil genius for one day." If it weren't so hackneyed it might be funny.–Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ
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From the Inside Flap

Kaspar Snit is a villainous villain who is determined to steal all the fountains in the world. Why? Fountains are beautiful and give people pleasure, two things he can?t abide.

Can a family of four who love fountains rescue them from the hands of this dastardly scoundrel? Especially when that family is made up of the four most eccentric individuals you?d care to meet?

Eleven-year-old Eleanor, eight-year-old Solly, better known as Googoo Man, and their parents, who are, to say the least, odd, set out on a hilarious quest over mountains and across the seas to storm the fortress of Kaspar and retrieve the lost fountains.

Cary Fagan?s first novel for children is a fun fantasy that will keep young armchair travelers laughing right to the exciting end.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 167 pages
• Publisher: Tundra Books (March 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088776665X
• ISBN-13: 978-0887766657
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 0.4 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,739,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)