Have you met Billy Shaman?
He is at the start of a wonderful adventure.
He is a shaman.
A shapeshifter.
A time traveller.
Billy is a boy with an important mission
To return stolen items
To their rightful owners
To the places from which they came
Things that were stolen
Hundreds and thousands of years ago
From all around the globe
The Adventures of Billy Shaman
Are going to be epic
And they begin with
The Rage Of The Sea Witch
The narrator of this story is
Charles Darwin
Not the incredibly famous
Scientist and explorer
But a giant tortoise
Discovered and named by him
Charles Darwin takes Billy Shaman
Under his wing (shell?)
When he is left in the care of
Mr and Mrs Cript
For the summer
In the house of Charles Darwin
The house
Now a museum
Is filled with scientific specimens
And historical artefacts
All off limits for Billy
Who seems set for a
Long slow summer
What actually unfolds
Is something entirely different
A journey through time
Space and place
To the arctic circle
To meet an Inuit girl
Named Ahna
Her shape shifting Grandma
Sedna
The Inuit Goddess of the Sea
And an ancient Greek
Explorer and astronomer
Pytheas
This fast paced adventure story
For younger middle grade readers
Is a heady blend of fantasy
And historical fiction
There is A LOT in this story
But it does flow well
And I thoroughly enjoyed it
I love the narrator’s voice
And Billy is a very likeable character
I love the idea of this series
Exploring the history behind
Museum artefacts
And also exploring the concept
Of ownership
Who owns these ancient things?
Where do they truly belong?
Should museums be seeking
To return items that are not really theirs?
With each book
Returning to this question
Through a different historical
Character, event and place
It could be incredibly fascinating
And exciting to explore
With young readers
I am definitely intrigued to see
What happens next for Billy
As his magic awakens
And he heads off on more adventures
