The Scarecrow and His Servant

A scarecrow come-to-life and an orphan boy travel around having adventures on the stage, on the battlefield, and in the courtroom. Sort of a Don Quixote re-write with a foolish, delusional, but rather charming, character (the scarecrow) and his practical, intelligent servant. The lady love is a broom the scarecrow met in a barn. Fun, but not much more of a point. How it all comes back to Spring Valley with the lawyer following most chapters doesn't jell together for me. How does it move from not believing a scarecrow can be alive, as with the actors, then a whole courtroom being perfectly okay with not only a living scarecrow, but with a talking old black she-raven? Pullman seems to keep changing the rules for this world as he goes along. While, most of the book seems set in a 18th or early 19th-ish century, the mobsters at the end are in dark suits with dark glasses. Perhaps it is supposed to be humorous, but I found the inconsistency of the fantasy world jarring. Which is not to say there isn't fun and humor to be found. Pullman is recognized as a strong voice of children's literature, so if you read a great deal of that literature, this is worth a read just because it is him. However, if you limit yourself to only the best books, this one doesn't quite make it.