The Adventures of Romain Kalbris

"How does good literature get lost?" Barry Clay asks in the forward of "The Adventures of Romain Kalbris." Clay has rescued a nearly forgotten work of the popular French children's author, Hector Malot, the "Rick Riordan" of his day. Clay has translated and adapted it for a modern audience with new illustrations by Joshua McClymont.

"The Adventures of Romain Kalbris" tells the story of a boy who wants nothing more than to follow in is father's footsteps and be a sailor. But when his father dies at sea, heroically saving members of a crew in mortal peril, his mother sends him to live with his miserly Uncle Simon to keep him safe. And so begins a series of humorous misadventures that take Romain from his small home of Port-Dieu to the big city of Paris.

There are no car chases or magical creatures, but this story is magic simply in the presentation of a life that is now found only in history books. It is the story of a boy with a big heart -- and the people he meets along the way in his attempt to make his dream come true.