The Gift of the Quoxxel by Richard Titus

Book blurb (from goodreads) 
King Norr of Nibb was not content. He longed to know of the world beyond his tiny, island kingdom. Why travel elsewhere, said his people. What place could possibly be more perfect than Nibb? 
What frustrated Norr even more, outsiders never came to Nibb. Foreign ships approached, hesitated, then sailed away. Why was that? 
And that wasn't the only mystery. 

Who was the little girl who sang, but would not speak? 

What kind of monster lurked in waters along the shore? 

Had Dr Hinkus been devoured by woolly drumbkins? 

And most importantly, what’s for lunch? 

Drearily perfect Nibb was about to turn upside down. As King Norr often said, it's enough to give one "haddocks." 
-- illustrations 
-- interactive glossary 
-- audio links & sheet music 

My review: 
I think that there is only one word to describe this book: Different. I will admit that I was on the verge of a reading slump but when I went into this book it slowly brought me out of it. It was short, sweet, interesting, humorous and had strange and interesting characters. What more could you ask from a book? 
The plot was different; part of something I liked about it was that I never really understood what was going on. The first few chapters were confusing because you are just thrown right into this story but as each chapter goes on everything becomes a little bit clearer until you get to the last chapters and everything just clicks. I will admit that the plot was kind of slow at the begging but then it sped up, slowed down again and so on. It was like being on a roller coaster ride. 
The characters in this book were, like I said earlier, different, interesting not quite normal (but then again who really is?). King Norr was a curious character, interested by the world outside of his island with a lizard thing as a friend. Really what species is Yill? Yill was your typical annoying friend and that is all I can say without spoiling you. Gadd is a pirate with a range of traits making him interesting to read about because these traits made his actions unpredictable. 
Before I draw this review to an end, I would like to say how amazing the art was in this book and the effort that went into the layout. It really was amazing. 
Finally I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.