CompuServe Messages

_Loom_, by Brian Moriarty, published by Lucasfilm, is a wonderful, wonderful family entertainment. My eight- and six-year-old children and I started at 7:00 tonight and enjoyed ourselves for the next three hours (tomorrow's a school holiday). The first half hour we listened to the dramatic narrative (as instructed), and then began role-playing Bobbin. Bobbin's a 17-year-old youth-of-mysterious-origins-with-a-mission, so I don't expect anything surprising in the way of plot twists. The world-view (a country ruled by jealous, competing craft guilds) is a bit old for the kids and a bit young for me, but it makes it easier for Moriarty to develop distinctive secondary characters. Bobbin blunders along, accomplishing his mission despite himself, in the way of a Grimm "dumblingsmarchen" (How Hans the Clod Fell Down the Stairs and Went On to Become a King). Bobbin works magic by playing four-note tunes. We're playing in "expert" mode so we must learn the tunes by sounding them out, so see, it's not just fun, it's ear training. Yes, there's a dragon, and yes, Bobbin defeats the dragon by wit rather than blamblam. I hope there's another twelve hours in there! THol() { cout << "Sir, I exist." ;}