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Reviewed by:
  • Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles by Thomas Lennon
  • Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor
Lennon, Thomas Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles; illus. by John Hendrix. Amulet/Abrams, 2019 [288p] (Ronan Boyle)
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4197-3491-5 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-68335-534-2 $15.54
Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-7

A mysterious call in the middle of the night and a surprisingly successful rescue mission has fifteen-year-old lowly intern Ronan Boyle of the Galway garda elevated to a trainee in the Garda Special Unit of Tir Na Nog, Ireland’s elite law agency specifically designed for dealing with the faerie folk. The no-nonsense captain takes Ronan under her wing, and soon Ronan is traveling the land of faerie tracking down a wine-thieving leprechaun; oddly enough, the search might in fact help Ronan figure out what happened two years ago to land his parents in jail. Don’t look for ethereal elves or playful sprites in Lennon’s fairy world—this place is host to hard-drinking criminal types (leprechauns, gancanaghs, fear gortas, to name a few), enormous and often bad-tempered unicorns, bossy shapeshifters, and unexpectedly helpful trolls. The plot mostly serves as a device to walk readers through this delightfully absurd setting, while Ronan’s matter of fact narration (helpfully and humorously footnoted throughout) of truly bizarre events amplifies the silliness; there’s plenty of potty humor too, with leprechauns jonesing for epic-fart-inducing pickles and Weaponized Poetry providing ample opportunity to say “butt” inventively. The final scene promises further adventure when the captain goes missing, and readers will be happy to join the now-promoted Detective Boyle on his quest to find her. The exaggerated cartooning of the black and white illustrations matches the text’s over-the-top feel.

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