The Doldrums

Written by Nicholas Gannon

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

Archer B. Helmsley longs for adventure. But how can he have an adventure when he can’t even leave his house?

Archer B. Helmsley has grown up in a house full of oddities and treasures collected by his grandparents, the famous explorers. Archer longs for grand adventures but ever since his grandparents went missing on an iceberg, his mother barely lets him leave the house. So, along with his best friends, Adélaïde L. Belmont and Oliver Grub, Archer forms a plan to get out of the house and set off on a grand adventure with crocodiles and parachutes and danger. It's a good plan. Well, it's not bad, anyway. But nothing goes quite as they expected…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9780008149420

Nicholas Gannon

Nicholas Gannon studied art and design and held a number of odd jobs before becoming a full-time author and illustrator. He has lived in Tennessee, Minnesota, and upstate New York. He now resides in Brooklyn, and he can sometimes be found eavesdropping on curious conversations at the Explorers Club. www.nicholasjgannon.com

Reviews for The Doldrums

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

children's adventure/fantasy fiction. This book starts at the beginning saying, don't worry, something extraordinary is going to happen to this otherwise unremarkable boy, but then NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS FOR AT LEAST 100 PAGES OR SO. For a kids' book, that is an astonishing lack of action. I think it would still do ok as a readaloud-at-bedtime-to-put-kids-to-sleep sort of thing, and it was almost interesting enough for me to keep reading, but in the end I decided the watercolor and ink drawings were the most charming thing about it (they are superb).

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Young Archer B. Helmsley is the grandson of a pair of famous explorers, and he has very much inherited their thirst for adventure. But when his grandparents disappear on an iceberg in the Antarctic, his mother becomes so over-protective she barely lets him out of the house. Still, he's not going to let that stop him from planning a trip to look for his grandparents, with the help of a couple of friends (including a one-legged French ballerina).A decent enough kids' book with a bit of humor and some nice illustrations, but not a very memorable one.Rating: I'm sure it would have done a lot more for me as a kid as did as an adult, so I'm going to let Adult Me and Inner Child Me split the difference and call it 3.5/5.

[kimpiddington · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed the characters and the illustrations!

[imtanner2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a book about Archer who desperately wants to go on adventure but his mother believes it to be unsafe. In desperation, Archer starts to plan a trip to look for his grandparents who disappeared in Antarctica on a iceberg while studying penguins. Archer gets his two friends to join him. It's funny and beautifully illustrated.