Once Upon a Tim - by Stuart Gibbs (Hardcover)

About the Book

"With no knightly experience but plenty of pluck and an impressive vocabulary, a twelve-year-old peasant, hoping to improve his station in life, volunteers to help a cowardly prince and his not very powerful wizard rescue a princess from an evil, foul-smelling monster."--

Book Synopsis

Join New York Times bestselling author Stuart Gibbs in this first book in a hilarious, highly illustrated new middle grade series about a peasant boy who wants to be a knight, perfect for fans of Max & the Midknights.

Tim is just a peasant, but he dreams big. He wants more out of life than to grow up to be a woodsman like his father. Unfortunately, the only route to success in the kingdom of Wyld is to be born a prince. Still, Tim is determined. He is brave and clever and always tries to do the right thing--even though he rarely gets the credit for it.

Then news spreads that Princess Grace of the neighboring kingdom has been abducted by the evil Stinx and Prince Ruprecht needs a legion of knights to join him on his quest to rescue her. Tim finally has the lucky break he's been waiting for, the opportunity to change his station in life. And even though he doesn't know how to ride a horse or wield anything more deadly than a water bucket, he's going to do whatever it takes to make sure his dream becomes a reality.

Review Quotes

"Fans of heraldic silliness like "The Princess Bride" and "Shrek" will delight in ONCE UPON A TIM, a charming take on the traditional knightly adventure.-- "The New York Times Book Review"

"Budding heroes defeat class and gender expectations as well as the occasional monster in this wry outing."--Kirkus Reviews

"A comic quest follows, with scares and laughs abundantly on offer...Tim's chatty, entertaining narration, which includes ample potty humor and the occasional vocabulary 'IQ booster, ' also touches on lessons about stereotypes and unconscious bias throughout the chatty, madcap adventure." --Publishers Weekly

"Gibbs peppers his prose with entertaining side comments as well as "IQ boosters," explaining terms such as malodorous, iconoclast, and infinitesimal, while maintaining the pace of the narrative. This giddy romp through a medieval setting, complete with menacing trolls and gigantic, bloodthirsty butterflies, is the start of a promising series from the author of Spy School (2012) and its sequels."--Booklist

About the Author

Stuart Gibbs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Charlie Thorne series, FunJungle series, Moon Base Alpha series, Once Upon a Tim series, and Spy School series. He has written screenplays, worked on a whole bunch of animated films, developed TV shows, been a newspaper columnist, and researched capybaras (the world's largest rodents). Stuart lives with his family in Los Angeles. You can learn more about what he's up to at StuartGibbs.com.

Stacy Curtis is the illustrator of The 7 Habits of Happy Kids series by Sean Covey and the Once Upon a Tim series by bestselling author Stuart Gibbs. He lives with his wife and dog in Oak Lawn, Illinois.