A Knight of Little Import by Hannah Batsel (Carolrhoda Books, September 2023) shares the story of a girl who wants to be a knight, but finds there is not much excitement in the town of Little Import. Since she cannot travel to find dragons to fight, she reads her book of monsters trying to learn about them just in case she does get a chance to leave town. But soon she finds that there are plenty of monsters in Little Import to capture!

Armor-clad Charlie is happy to share her knowledge with those in her town: she just wants to help. She also is much kinder to the monsters than those other knights are. As she helps the townspeople, she finds that her town is much improved.

To me, the creative illustrations are the highlight of The Knight of Little Import. The majority of the scene and setting have a cartoon look, but as the cut-out illustrations overlap and various other media are used, the book becomes a visual delight. The three-dimensional illustrations make the characters and setting just pop off of the page. The art is so unique the paragraph on the copyright page lists 16 different media used to create the illustrations, include acrylic paint, homemade paper, pencil, embroidery thread, and so many more. The end result is a series of pictures that just blew me away.

Knights, monsters, and helping your community: The Knight of Little Import is a fun picture book to add to the shelf.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance review copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Oh my, I'll buy this as soon as it comes out!
It was sooo beautiful and creative, I loved the art and how Batsel made it look like there were paper cut-outs on top of drawn backgrounds? Just stunning!

This picture book is about a little knight - who turned out to be a girl, YES! - who lives in the little town of Little Import. She'd like to have monsters to fight, but nothing ever happens, it's not like the big city where she can see knights fighting monsters in the sky from far away! But one day she walks by the baker's shop and he asks her for help: someone has been eating all the pastries! And that is how Charlie starts to find all these weird uncommon monsters who appear, at the inexpert eyes, random objects.

So lovely and creative and stunning and I loved how the descriptions of the monsters were in rhyme and felt so Medieval!

Embarrassed her small town isn't important enough to be plagued by the monsters she's meant to slay, the young Knight Charlie spends her time reading and imagining visages of the nefarious creatures described in her text. But when the local baker explains his kitchen falls to destruction each night, his description matches a phrase from Charlie's book and she's forced to reconsider her preconceived notions. What follows is an adventure which reminds readers: Even the smallest victories have big impacts on our world.

A beautifully unconventional tale, The Knight of Little Import transports readers into the heroine's world from the very first page. Combining various mediums of art to form vibrant collages, Hannah has created a universe filled with color, imagination, and depth. Upon finishing the story, my daughter (age 5) requested we read it again...and again, and again. With the book's fantastic direction of both art and plot, not only has it secured a place on our shelf, but it has hoisted Hannah Batsel to our list of favorite children's authors.

The Knight of Little Import

An absolutely darling children's story with a beathtakingly beautiful art style to back it up. The message for children is that everyone can be impactful. One of the easiest 5 star ratings I've ever given.

I am very impressed with Hannah Batsel’s artwork! And she got a BFA from the University of Georgia, where I’m from - Go Dawgs!

I really enjoyed the story of Charlie, the knight of Little Import. I enjoyed the message too - by attacking small monsters where you are, you can create big changes. I think it can teach kids to open their eyes and see that their actions - big or small- can largely impact others.

The Knight of Little Import is about a young knight Charlie from the town of Little Import. Charlie is down and sad because Bigger Borough is a bustling city, where the knights are fighting monsters & saving people. As Charlie starts to help the people in Little Import with their monster problems, she begins to learn what an impact she can have.

This is so, so cute. I want to read it to my nephews so badly and I think kids would really love this! I love the unexpected twists of what the monsters look like compared to their descriptions.

A cute, fun read and I'm definitely putting it on my list.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lerner Publishing Group and Carolrhoda Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.