Product Description

Tom Trueheart wants to be an adventurer like his six older brothers. They're all employed by the Story Bureau to take the lead in any number of thrilling tales - tales which mean they have to rescue red-hooded young ladies or climb outlandishly large beanstalks. Each story is started off by the Story Bureau and it's up to the adventurer to make of the story what he will. But this time something's gone wrong - none of the stories are being finished and none of the Trueheart
brothers have returned home. Now Tom will get his chance to be a hero - he must set off to the Land of Stories and find out what has happened to his brothers and bring them back.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #204220 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Synopsis
Tom Trueheart wants to be an adventurer like his six older brothers. They're all employed by the "Story Bureau" to take the lead in any number of thrilling tales - tales which mean they have to rescue red-hooded young ladies or climb outlandishly large beanstalks. Each story is started off by the "Story Bureau" and it's up to the adventurer to make of the story what he will. But this time something's gone wrong - none of the stories are being finished and none of the Trueheart brothers have returned home. Now Tom will get his chance to be a hero - he must set off to the Land of Stories and find out what has happened to his brothers and bring them back.

About the Author
Other publications for OUP include: Stories and Songs for Bedtime, Round & Round the Garden, Pudding and Pie, The Oxford Nursery Treasury, and many others.
Ian Beck is widely published and titles for other publishers include Lost in the Snow, Lost on the Beach, and Home Before Dark.

Customer Reviews

Perfect mix of the familiar and the unexpected
I have just finished reading "Tom Trueheart" to my 7-year-old and we both loved it! For a child, there is the perfect mix of "being in the know" with the familiar fairy stories in which Tom's brothers are the main protagonists (Cinderella, Jack & the Beanstalk, The Frog Prince, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White) and the unexpected and chaotic elements brought on by the evil and disruptive Brother Ormestone.

Tom is the perfect hero for young children to identify with: he is used to being the youngest and the smallest but has a pretty good go at being more heroic than his brothers. As well as adventure and action, there are comic moments too, a rather nasty villain and a rather unlikely but endearing sprite-turned-crow sidekick.

The detail of the book is what earns the fifth star: super silhouette illustrations, an intriguing map of Storyland and the completeness of the world that Ian Beck conjures up through evocative description.

We are looking forward to Tom's Adventures in the Land of Dark Stories!

A fantastic book that surely will become a classic.
I bought this for my son (5) expecting a simple adventure story and was delighted and intrigued by the first three chapters where it quickly became clear that there was more depth to Tom Trueheart's tale than I had anticipated. The story is based on a rich and inventive concept where fairy tales are developed in a part of the world called the Land of Stories, after which the resulting tale can then be printed with pictures providing stories for the rest of us to read.
Tom Trueheart is the youngest of seven brothers and from a long line of true adventurers who's destiny it is to work in The Land of Stories. This country is overseen by the `Story Bureau', a hive of activity with scribes, puzzlers, poets and story-devisers. The story-devisers have the task of setting up the beginnings of stories (e.g. leaving a very long-haired princess in a tower) before sending an adventurer off to complete the adventure as they see fit. However, a rogue story deviser from the Story Bureau takes against these adventurers and kidnaps the six older brothers of the Trueheart family mid-adventures. It therefore falls to little Tom, on his very first quest, to save his brothers and rescue the stories of Sleeping Beauty and the Frog Prince, amongst others, from an unfinished fate.
This timeless book is a great read though I think my son will get much more from it at 6 or 8: it's perfect for children in that stage between picture books and darker books like Harry Potter. There is a scattering of lovely striking silhouette illustrations reminiscent of Pienkowski's. With lots of short chapters to break it up, the well written prose is flowing with fast-paced intrigue and excitement. There are only a couple of sinister characters who aren't too scary so the world in which the adventure is set is pretty friendly. The end of the book sees all the brothers rescued and their tales completed - however the whereabouts of the Trueheart father remains a mystery and the rogue story deviser remains on the loose so I very much hope this will be covered soon in a now-eagerly-awaited sequel.
What a triumphant move forward from picture books for the 0-4s. More please, Mr Beck!

A Great Book for Boys
My 7 year old son received this for his birthday and has loved this book. It has just the right mix of mystery, adventure and characters to hold interest through the whole book. The book is also divided into chapters that are the right length to read at bedtime and have a good stopping point. We also can't wait for the next adventure.