Krindlekrax by Philip Ridley

Well, after a long, long hiatus I'm back with another book review. Sorry for the long delay.

I've always been a big fan of Philip Ridley. In fact, I believe that Mighty Fizz Chilla is the best book ever written. There are a few I haven't read, so I decided to order them from the library as they are quite old and very hard to get hold of. Unfortunately, the library has epic failed and most of them appear to have been stolen by borrowers. Oh well.

One of those I did manage to get hold of was Krindlekrax. And my how ace is this book!!!!

Philip Ridley's kids books follow a very simple formula - boy or girl star is in a sort of dysfuntional family. The action usually happens on one street, which is always populated by wacky characters that would seem extremely out of place in real life, but are so lifelike at the sametime that they fit in really well inside the story. The hero/heroine always saves the day whilst discovering something about themselves, the place they live or the people they live with. Usually there is some subtle reference to puberty.

In Krindlekrax the hero is a boy called Ruskin Splinter who wants to be a hero. Ruskin's only friend is Corky, the old school caretaker who tells him about the huge crocodile Krindlekrax that lives in the sewers beneath Lizard Street.

Ruskin is a thin, ginger haired lad with no muscles and very thick glasses who aspires to be an actor playing the part of a hero in the school play. But everyone laughs at the idea of this weedy kid playing a hero, so the part goes to the resident school bully, Elvis.

Ruskin must overcome his own fears, stand up to the bully, ignore peer pressure and negativity and save Lizard Street from the dread Krindlekrax.


Krindlekrax is simply a wonderful story, if a little short. Every single Philip Ridley book so far has made me choke on tears with the final paragraph, and this is no exception. "I LOVE YOU LIZARD STREET. I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!" Yep, so do I!

Rating: 4 out of 5