The Dreadful Fate of Jonathan York: A Yarn for the Strange at Heart

by Kory Merritt

Overview

Discover the horrible fate of Jonathan York as he sets out on his journey through a spooky forest with an alarming party of travelmates!

“…[a] hair-raising tribute to the life-changing power of stories . . . Merritt shows both a knack for evocative phrasing … and a deft hand at crafting flamboyantly icky monsters in creepy settings.”
—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

Jonathan York has led a boring life – a pointless degree from the community college, a lackluster job at the General Store, and never any desire for something more exciting. But when fate leaves him stranded in a sinister land,
he finds himself seeking an adventure of his own. Along the way he encounters ghoulish thieves, ravenous swamp monsters, a dastardly ice cream conspiracy, and a necromancer bent on human sacrifice.

In this beautifully illustrated, four-color novel, Jonathan York's life takes a decidedly spooky turn!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449471002
Publisher:	Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication date:	10/06/2015
Series:	AMP! Comics for Kids Series
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kory Merritt started cartooning and illustrating while attending SUNY Brockport. His weekly comic strip, Brockport Chronicled, won the John Locher Memorial Award in 2007.

His feature, Lost Side of Suburbia, which appears on GoComics, was largely influenced by folk tales Kory learned as a counselor at Camp Kenan in Barker, New York.

Kory currently teaches K-6 Art in Hammondsport, New York.

Editorial Reviews

08/17/2015
Originally published online as “No Story, No Room,” Merritt’s print debut follows the misadventures of a meek store clerk named Jonathan York, whose life takes a turn for the worse—or does it?—when he gets lost in a forbidding swamp. Along with three strange travelers, Jonathan finds his way to the Cankerbury Inn, whose elderly owners demand a story in exchange for a night’s stay. While Jonathan’s companions share accounts of diabolical ice-cream factories, daredevil undersea escapades, and alien abduction/vivisection, Jonathan’s dull life leaves him without anything to contribute. All that changes when he is tossed back into the swamp, falls in with merciless thieves, outwits a giant terrapin, and more. Terrifying and skillfully drafted, Merritt’s illustrations conjure a world of hideous creatures replete with tentacles, saberlike fangs, and leering eyes. References to Sean Connery and Willy Wonka sit a bit oddly in the Lovecraftian gothic world Merritt has created, and underneath all the supernatural horror, the message that what doesn’t kill, digest, or zombify you makes you stronger (and gives you a story to tell) is actually quite conventional. Ages 8–12. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

…[a] hair-raising tribute to the life-changing power of stories…Merritt shows both a knack for evocative phrasing…and a deft hand at crafting flamboyantly icky monsters in creepy settings.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))

From the Publisher

11/01/2015
Gr 4–7—Jonathan York, the drab, anxious protagonist of this unusual fairy tale, has taken a shortcut through a menacing swamp and is now lost. He meets a group of travelers who invite him to find refuge in a secluded inn that is run by an unusual elderly couple. The innkeepers will allow the group to stay for a price—not money, but rather a story of adventure to help remind them of their younger days. One by one the travelers recall colorful tales that are presented in rich, descriptive detail and accompanied by quirky illustrations done in subdued tones. The stories are full of dark humor and nonsensical words that call to mind Roald Dahl (is that an Oompa Loompa chained in a dungeon?!). Retelling an exciting escapade is no easy task for York, as he has lived a purposefully uneventful and risk-free life. With no tale to offer, he is sent back into the eerie night. After an odd little man offers a suggestion for where he might spend the night, York falls into the lair of a motley assortment of thieves and is coerced into assisting the gang on a highly dangerous treasure hunt. Being forced to participate in such treacherous quests has unexpected results: the once-meek York begins to feel exhilarated and to embrace his adventurous side. York concludes with the moral of the story: sometimes you have to take risks to keep from being a person with No Story. VERDICT With fantastical Tim Burton-esque creatures and rich language, this tale will appeal to a wide audience (including adults).—Sherry J. Mills, Hazelwood East High School, St. Louis, MO

School Library Journal

★ 2015-07-15
A night in the swamp converts a mild-mannered clerk into a wily yarn spinner in this hair-raising tribute to the life-changing power of stories. In his debut, Merritt shows both a knack for evocative phrasing—"evening shadows had sidled in like predators seeking out the sick animals in a herd"—and a deft hand at crafting flamboyantly icky monsters in creepy settings. He sends his nerdy-looking protagonist into the murky gloom of Halfrock Swamp, where the price for a room at the only shelter, rickety Cankerbury Inn, is a story. A story? Jonathan York has none to tell. None, that is, until he's cast out into the night and into the clutches of the extraordinarily toothy West Bleekport Gang, then swallowed by the dreaded Bogglemyre (to be ejected "with one great phlegm-rattling belch…like a human loogie"). Proving increasingly quick both of wit and feet, he escapes the terror-scenting Fear'im Gnott and numerous other hazards on the way back to the inn and, one yarn later, a well-earned night's sleep. "Time will take many things from you," the innkeeper declares, but "you'll always have your story." The atmospheric drawings not only offer an array of luxuriantly grotesque swamp residents to ogle, but sometimes even take over for the legibly hand-lettered narrative by expanding into wordless sequences and side tales. Poor Jonathan York, condemned to newfound self-confidence and awed listeners wherever he goes. (Graphic fantasy. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews