While Valente is clearly influenced by Lewis Carroll, Auxier’s book reflects a love of the authors mentioned above with a splash of Treasure Island thrown in to the mix. Both Valente and Auxier meet these challenges admirably, excitingly and in their own different ways.
As I said about Cathrynne M Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, it is very hard to write a book that echoes the classics and sounds authentic, while at the same time creating a story that is filled with original characters, settings and plot twists. Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes reads like a classic while at the same time standing out on the shelves as a book that feels new and uncommon.
Roald Dahl, Charles Dickens and JM Barrie came to mind when I first glimpsed the title and cover art for this book on Chad W Beckerman’s blog several months ago and, upon reading I found that these impressions were not wrong. You don’t have to read far into Jonathan Auxier's debut novel Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes(for which he also provided the excellent chapter illustrations) to know that this is an author who has a happy and healthy relationship with classic children’s literature.
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