This is a relatively short book. Although the story is mostly told in text, the illustrations by Michael Foreman help bring the characters to life and intensify the impact of various events. The narration is from a fairly distant third-person point of view, except for the opening and closing scenes which are related by the modern boy in first-person mode.

The Robin Hood tales were first published as a collection of ballads and folk songs in the late fourteenth century. Partly because of this format, they are not strong in either character development or in subtext.

Later treatments have almost always retained this pattern. Even if the authors try to do something new and innovative, the Robin Hood saga remains primarily an adventure story, in which all the characters keep their assigned roles, and good and evil are clearly defined.

This is true of the present...