Otto of the Silver Hand

In the nineteenth century, authors didn't write the high-action children's books of today. Howard Pyle, who is best known for writing and illustrating THE MERRY ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, wrote OTTO in 1888. Today's kids must bear with a very slow start in order to enjoy this unusual saga of a young boy in medieval Germany, who's imprisoned in the dungeon of the Castle Trutz-Drachen. But Otto himself is often out of the picture, and the intriguing-sounding "silver hand" is little more than a postscript. Narrator Geoffrey Howard gives the story authority with his schoolmaster's voice. Pyle's "Otto" is a piece of literary history, making it a good match with Howard's deep, dispassionate voice. But both narrator and writer seem better suited to adult audiences or kids in love with all things literary. M.C. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine