Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo is a young adult fantasy, graphic novel series by Ben Costa and James Parks. Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers & Random House Graphic, the series tells the story of a skeleton bard.
Meet Rickety Stitch . . . a walking, talking, singing skeleton bard. He’s the one skeleton in the dungeon who seems to have retained his soul, and he has no idea why.
Rickety's only clue to his former identity is a song he hears snippets of in his dreams, an epic bard’s tale about the Road to Epoli and the land of Eem.
His sidekick and sole friend is the gelatinous Goo, who Rickety alone can understand. Together they set out in search of Rickety’s past, with abundant humor and danger galore.
"You'd expect a skeleton like Rickety Stitch to have a funny bone, but you'll be surprised at how much heart he has, too." - Jeffrey Brown, Eisner Award winning author of Jedi Academy and Lucy & Andy Neanderthal
"Rickety Stitch is full of wonderful characters and pacing…and what surprises! Storytelling stripped down to the bare bones." - Stan Sakai, Eisner Award winning author of Usagi Yojimbo
“This adventure is sure to appeal to fans of Jeff Smith's Bone.” - SLJ, Starred Review
“Don't be fooled by the cheery illustrations; this is irreverent, bawdy, and lots of fun.” - Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“There is lots of intertextual cleverness going on that results in this book being both an homage to and spoof of the traditional fantasy hero’s quest, both in the illustrations and in the narration.” - Bulletin, Starred Review
“Parks and Costa impressively evolve their tale into a compelling epic quest with deeper themes than the initial chapters hint.” - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Grades 7+, Ages 12+
There are 3 volumes of Rickety Stitch: Book 1: The Road to Epoli, Book 2: The Middle-Route Run, and Book 3: Battle of the Bards.
The stories are not connected, but both of them take place in our world, known as the Land of Eem. If you're a fan of Rickety Stitch and know some younger readers, they might like Dungeoneer Adventures.
Yes! The songs that appear in the series have been produced and performed by some seriously talented friends of ours, namely E. Wolverton, Darren Korb (Hades), and Ashley Barrett (Hades). You can listen to all the songs here.
You can ask for Rickety Stitch wherever books are sold or find in online on Amazon.
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