fairy skeletons.: Book Review: Logic to the Rescue by Kris Langman

Picture from barnesandnoble.com

When Nikki Murrow lost her first High School debating match she did what anyone would do – she hid in a closet. She found comfort hiding among the mops and cleaning supplies, but she also found two imps – tiny creatures from a magical kingdom who lead her on a strange journey into the Realm of Reason.

There is Fuzz, an imp with a fondness for breaking the rules. And Athena, a model of impish manners, decorum and spotlessly clean clothes. Together they convince Nikki to join them in the battle against the king's evil advisor, Maleficious.

In her debate class, Nikki learned the value of logic and reason, but who knew her ability to formulate a hypothesis would help a mud-splattered Knight redeem his tarnished reputation? Or that her knowledge of logical fallacies would rid the Realm's Haunted Hills of ghosts? 

Maleficious's hold on the king is strong, but Nikki and the imps are determined that the Realm will not fall into his clutches. Will their mastery of logic rid the kingdom of the ignorance Maleficious is spreading, or will the inhabitants of the Realm fall back under the sway of centuries-old superstition?

Huh. Pretty good for a free Kindle book. That's right. It's free (buy here). It's a Phantom Tollbooth-style sort of book that involves a whimsical other-world filled with strange creatures and a desire to spread reason. The thing that's sort of weird/endearing about this book is that it's "educational" (dun dun dun....). It introduces logical fallacies in a way that might be good for.. say... third graders. It was a bit over-simple for my taste, but I'll keep it on my Kindle for its useful information on logical fallacies--I knew about them already, but I'd never heard the formal terminology before. 

Generally, each chapter detailed a different logical fallacy as Nikki and her imp companions traveled throughout the Realm of Reason to eliminate superstition and spread knowledge. I also like that they weren't always successful. Repeated victories against ignorance every single chapter can get really monotonous. The one thing I didn't understand was why Nikki had to be a high schooler. It made her seem extremely stupid not to be applying her knowledge more, almost as if she was just bored and helping these immature imps for fun. If she was, say, a fifth grader, it would have made the story way more plausible and entertaining.

It was a bit more medieval than The Phantom Tollbooth, and the character foils of Fuzz and Athena were fun to read about. Nikki often spoke to the imps like they were first graders, very simply and patiently. However, it's an engaging format for teaching logical fallacies to younger readers. The next book, Castles and Chemistry is about--guess what? Chemistry! A preview chapter is included in Logic to the Rescue in which Nikki teaches Athena what an atom is.

So if you want an introduction to logical fallacies in a simple story, go ahead and download!