Bobby, Lord of Acton Waters

by William Smock

Overview

Do you secretly admire kids who talk back, who break the rules and defy their elders? Meet Bobby, age 11. He rules a castle and all the lands around it. No one tells him what to do. He refuses to go to school, eat spinach, or even take a bath.

One thing eludes Bobby. He can't order people to like him. One day a wandering minstrel comes to town - Fahd, from faraway North Africa. He sings for small change and cures minor ailments. He has no possessions, but he quickly acquires a hundred fans and friends. What's his secret?

Bobby vows to find out. He hits the road, destination unknown, as Fahd's assistant. Travelers, as they walk along, tell about their lives, and Bobby starts to feel a new sympathy for his fellow humans. He and Fahd then quit the music business and launch a grand risky scheme to make the world a better place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798986610924
Publisher:	Atopon Books
Publication date:	04/01/2024
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

William Smock is an author/illustrator (The Bauhaus Ideal Then and Now), filmmaker (Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Paper) and translator (Denis Guénoun's memoir A Semite). He lives in Berkeley, California. Bobby, Lord of Acton Waters is about someone far naughtier than he ever was, but also more adventurous.

Editorial Reviews

2024-07-16
A self-indulgent prepubescent nobleman hits the road and experiences life outside his earldom in Smock’s middle-grade novel.

Eleven-year-old Bobby is the Earl of Acton Waters, a village in mid-12th-century England. He orders people to do what he wants, including servants and his own father, as Bobby inherited his title from his uncle. One day, Fahd, a “beggarman” who hails from Africa, arrives in the village. Bobby is seemingly drawn to Fahd’s cheery disposition—a sharp contrast to the young Earl’s unequivocal brattiness. He opts to travel with the African and picks up personal stories from the likes of a magician and a baker’s wife. Making these connections with people ignites a desire in Bobby to be more mature like Fahd. Meanwhile, Fahd dreams up a “Great Deed” the two can carry out, provided they can deal with local bandits. Bobby soon learns that Acton Waters is apparently in worse shape than when he left; will the hopefully improved tween be the one to turn things around? Smock’s diverting tale is a quick read chock-full of lively descriptions, from a bustling town’s crowded market and streets to such unforgettable cuisine as a “flat green spinach pie soaked in honey.” There’s plentiful humor, especially when people, unaware they’re speaking to Acton Waters’ runaway earl, deliver unfiltered gossip about the boy. (He evidently reeks of “athletic socks”— probably true, since he avoids baths—and is reputedly no longer in the village on account of a bear eating him.) It’s encouraging to see Bobby gradually learn to empathize with others and fight to better himself, even willingly putting himself in harm’s way for that Great Deed. All the while, Bobby and Fahd move from place to place in a brisk narrative that ends with a befitting denouement.

This coming-of-age tale smoothly blends uplifting moments with welcome drollness.

Kirkus Reviews