Sir Toby Jingle's Beastly Journey

by Wallace Tripp

Grown old in bravery and knightly craft, Sir Toby Jingle sets off on his last great adventure, which involves a griffin, a bear, a dragon, a tiger, and an ogre, old enemies all

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Adventure, Humor, Fiction

32 pages, Library Binding

First published May 1, 1976

About the author

Wallace Whitney Tripp (June 26, 1940 – September 9, 2018) was an American illustrator, anthologist, and author. He was known for creating anthropomorphic animal characters of emotional complexity and for his great visual and verbal humor.
He was one of several illustrators of the Amelia Bedelia children's book series. He has illustrated over 40 books, including Marguerite, Go Wash Your Feet (1985), Wallace Tripp's Wurst Seller (1981), Casey at the Bat (1978) and A Great Big Ugly Man Came Up and Tied His Horse to Me (1973). Tripp also drew many greeting cards for the Pawprints line.

Reviews

[Lillian]

An obscure and underrated classic children's book that is somehow one of my favorites to this day.
It's witty and charming, but probably tainted by my childhood nostalgia, as I lost my copy a long time ago.
It's the story of a knight named Sir Toby Jingle. For years, he's fought off the beasts and monsters that live in the woods- and in the process, has gained quite the reputation among these beasts and monsters. Suffice to say, they all loathe him but are also scared to death of him.
But Sir Toby Jingle is growing old. He can't fight monsters or even ride a horse the way he used to. His mind is still sharp, but he can feel the years taking their toll.
So, Sir Toby decides to go on one last adventure. He plans and plans, and finally rides into the forest for his adventure. In the forest, he meets a cast of beasts and monsters- some familiar adversaries and some descendants of the ones he fought in his youth- and they're all intent on leading him to his demise.
But Sir Toby just invites them along on his adventure, and he outwits all of their attempts to kill him. He bests them so fully that even the most fearsome among them- in my opinion, the one-eyed tiger- seems foolish.
Sir Toby outwits them one final time by luring them into the courtyard of his castle and closing the gates behind them- from then on, crowds of people come to see the beasts perform circus tricks- which, in time, the beasts learn to enjoy, displaying feats of acrobatics and silly tricks. Sir Toby retires and becomes rich from the circus in his courtyard.
I think this book appeals to me because it's about saying goodbye to one phase of your life- and hello to another. Although the tone of the book is quirky and upbeat, the more serious tones are there in the beasts and animals' attempts on Sir Toby's life. And that always led me to think about the more serious implied themes, about how change isn't always bad and how the past is never truly gone as long as we keep a little bit of it alive inside of us.

[Holly]

This is one of my favorite books from childhood, so much so that when my mom was sorting out books I asked her if I could have our copy. Now I'm so happy to share this book with my kids.

Sir Toby Jingle has had a long and illustrious career as a knight besting all the creatures of the forest, but now he has grown old and wants to retire. So he sets out on one last journey and shows that he is still a wily adversary to all the beasts who want to kill him. Each time he comes across an old foe, he invites them to join him in his journey. They try all sorts of tricks to beat him, but he slyly evades or escapes each one. In the end, he turns the tables on them and traps them within the walls of his castle, where Sir Toby puts them to work as a circus troupe and to their surprise, they enjoy it!

The dialogue is clever and witty, and you can spend so much time pouring over the pictures enjoying the little details and all the silly creatures plotting in their speech bubbles. I loved having this read to me when I was little, and it only improved when I could sit and enjoy it on my own as an older child.

[Bethany Corkran]

This fiction picture book is a hilarious take on the development of a zoo. Sir Toby Jingle was a valiant knight and he claimed to be headed to a fortune. This lured the animals to him and they followed him thinking they would have an opportunity for revenge. However, he just locked all of the animals in the courtyard of his palace and made them into a zoo after evading all of their revenge attempts. I liked this book because it attempts to explain a real thing in the world with a fairy tale. In my classroom, I would read this before taking a class trip to the zoo, and then have my students come up with their own ways of luring wild animals into companionship.

[K]

Another favorite from my childhood. Intricate illustrations with extra dialogue that adds even more humor to this book.

An aging knight finds that he doesn't have the energy or will to continue to fight the monsters in the surrounding woods, so Sir Toby goes on one final journey to bring about peace and a way for him to finally enjoy his retirement. It's a cleverly written, delightful book with beautiful illustrations. I would recommend it for anyone, even if you don't have children.

[Cristine Williams]

Delightful tale about Sir Toby and the beastly creatures of the dark forrest! Sir Toby had protected the people of his village for many years but now he was elderly and no longer able to fight the creatures. So he figured out a way not only to find his fortune but also to coax the creatures to assist them in finding their fortune too!

[Brianna]

It's one thing to read a picture book silently in your head as a child, it's quite another to read it aloud with voices and sound effects to your little brothers. My voice is gone, but it was worth it.

[Matt Moore]

My Favorite Book on earth hands down. Thanks for reading it to me 1 million times growing up , Dad. Yes he did the voices , yes we repeated the thought bubbles out loud together.
“ I think it’s majic”

[Carfig]

Love the beasts, including a griffin, tiger, bear and goblin, and Sir Toby is a bit of fun. Light-hearted and a happy ending for everyone.

[IUS F19 Katelyn Butler]

This is a really funny story about a brave knight and mythical creatures.

[Emily]

This was a cute story of a knight who outsmarts the beasts of the nearby forests, even in his old age.

[Bonnie]

THESE ILLUSTRATIONS! they truly do not make them like this anymore!

[Christine]

Very cute and quite funny.

[Sullivan Wheeler]

An epic journey! It’s much too long for my liking.

[Tammy]

3 for the story. 5 for the illustrations. Loved all the animal characters.

[Theresa]

So cute. Reminds me of Don Quixote.

[Jamie Jonas]

I'm opening a new and better year by first reading--or re-reading, as here--the best of my far-reaching book collection. Thus I return, for the umpteenth time, to Wallace Tripp's Sir Toby Jingle's short but delightful odyssey. This story oozes charm from every literary pore. I believe this one to be Tripp's absolute summit of creativity (not that great things didn't come after). As always, the animal and fantasy characters are the true stars in terms of illustrative ability, but Sir Toby has charisma and personality a-plenty. The storyline is unvarnished, but the frills are a thrill. The aging knight's five villains are uproariously villainous and their multiple attempts to 'off' him hilarious. This little opus has also become a kind of picturebook illustrator's guide for the artist in me, reminding me of the genius in letting lines be loose instead of rigid and overworked.

[Heather]

I pulled this book out of storage, dusted it off, and read it with my son last night. The copy we are using was one my sister and I read many times when we were younger.
The story is about Sir Toby going on one last quest. As he meets animals along the way, he invites them to join him, and they each have a previous reason to want Sir Toby to fail. I won't ruin the ending here, but it is definitely a fun book for both child and adult. It brought back great memories as we read. We'll definitely be picking this one up again soon as a bedtime story.

[Melissa Berberich]

Sir Toby was my favorite as a child. I found this book in a box when I was in about 2nd grade. I loved it so much, that I read it until the binding broke and the covers nearly fell off. As an adult, I hunted it down for my daughter and got a beautiful copy from a third-party seller on Amazon. She also loves the book. I'm using it now for a read aloud lesson in my reading class. I highly recommend this wonderful book to any child who enjoys magic, knights, and mythical creatures!

[Kaje Harper]

This is the perfect book for an independently-reading kid with a snarky sense of humor. I found it at a garage sale, and my daughter has read it many times, and I admit to multiple readings too. The story is cute, but the fun is really in the asides of all the animals in the illustrations. One of those unknown gems one sometimes stumbles across.

[Shauna]

Cute book. I found a used copy on Amazon. Yeah!

[Charles]

It's really a young, early reader book. I read it to my son and mention it here because it was one that he liked a lot. He would have given it at least a 4.

[Dan]

I dug the hell out of this in the first grade. The first story of its kind, a knight going on a quest, I ever read.

[Bethany]

My parents own a copy of this and my kiddos request it several times whenever we are out for a visit. It is humorous and clever, both the writing and the illustrating. A childhood favorite for sure!

[Search-for-truth]

My children and I and my grandchildren simply loved this book. I even wrote an article about it online, we like it so much. Definitely one of our all-time favorite reading experiences.