On Guard

Time for another little break from Stoker reading. I was looking for books for my daughter on cricket and fencing and came across this at the library. (No good cricket books though.) ON GUARD is a juvenile novel about Mikey, a young boy who is looking for a way to make his mark. He wants to stand out in school and at home but has no idea what to do. On a school field trip, he sees a fencing exhibition and falls in love with the sport.

There is some silliness in this book as well as some outdated fencing conventions, but it is fun. It reminded me of why I loved fencing and how I got into the sport, but doesn't spend nearly enough time on the strip. My only concern is that the fencer on the left side of the book looks to be holding the blade completely wrong, but it may be bad shading. Maybe when my daughter is old enough we'll check it out again.