LitPick Review
Far far away on the planet of Ankor there lived the Turkles, a species bearing close semblance to turtles on planet Earth but who remained completely unknown to humans for thousands of years. However, on one of his great journeys into the vast unknown, Klubbe, the main character in Klubbe The Turkle And The Golden Star Coracle by Phillip Dodd, bridged this gap between humans and the Turkles.
Turkles are a unique species because after they graduate from school, they develop an occupation based on their talents which they ultimately stick with for their entire life. However, while most Turkles find their occupation quite naturally, Klubbe is different as he struggles to see his true path onward after school. So instead of launching himself right into a career, Klubbe decides to pursue life as a hermit for awhile.
One day, as Klubbe lies floating on his back in the sea after his coracle (a type of Turkle boat) gets overturned by a great globb fish, a sudden idea comes to him - what if he made a coracle that could fly all the way into space and explore the great depths of the cosmos? Then he realizes that with that single thought of a flying coracle, he has turned himself into an inventor, the occupation he will pursue for the rest of his life! With this, Klubbe decides to end his life as a hermit and move to the capital city of Ankor to turn his thoughts and drawings into a real invention which he will call The Golden Star Coracle.
Will Klubbe’s Golden Star Coracle be a success? Will his inventive juices continue to flow even after he has tried his luck at a flying coracle? Where will life as an inventor take Klubbe next?
Opinion:
Klubbe The Turkle And The Golden Star Coracle by Phillip Dodd is a very creative and unique book. In fact, it is really unlike any other I have read. Its highly descriptive language and made-up words sometimes felt extraneous, and for me, kept this from being a fast read. On the positive side, it did have many different plot twists and periods of suspense that kept me reading.
This book had a large number of characters, and they all had Turkle names that were gibberish to me. The combination of these two factors made it rather difficult to keep the characters straight in my head. While I wouldn’t recommend this book to beginning readers, as it is quite long and contains some advanced language, it has several themes that could inspire middle school and even high school-aged readers.
Because the Turkles are optimists, they set an example for readers of staying positive even when a situation isn’t going as planned. In addition, Klubbe teaches readers to never give up on their dreams and goals. Even though several of his inventions initially seemed out of the realm of possibility to some Turkles, Klubbe persevered until he was able to prove that his inventions were possible, showing young readers that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
I would definitely recommend Klubbe The Turkle And The Golden Star Coracle to science fiction lovers ages 10 and up. Readers who aren’t fans of the genre but are willing to give this book a try will be transported to a totally new, imaginatively described world.
