More suspenseful, enthralling mouse-eye perspective on the Camelot legend
In this sequel to A Tail of Camelot (2016), a mysterious plague threatens Camelot, forcing warrior mouse Calib Christopher to embark on a perilous mission to the magical isle of Avalon while young Two-Legger Galahad faces a formidable foe in King Arthur’s malevolent nephew.
The unexpected arrival of a sick squirrel-maiden seeking Avalon’s healers to cure the deadly sickness infecting her village interrupts Camelot’s Harvest Tournament and Calib’s final challenges as a graduating page. Meanwhile, Arthur’s accomplished, secretive nephew, Red, appears in Camelot with dastardly intentions, sparking 11-year-old Galahad’s immediate distrust. Contagion rapidly spreads through Camelot, striking the strongest, depleting ranks of both mice and humans, puzzling healers, and prompting Calib and friend Cecily to search for Avalon while Galahad combs Merlin’s Scrolls for a cure. Using the essential qualities of a mouse-knight, “bravery, strength, and wisdom,” to fend off highwaymen, treasure seekers, and pirates, Calib and Cecily eventually reach Avalon, where the Lady of the Lake reveals what must be done to remove the curse on Camelot—where Arthur and Galahad are in peril as Red seizes control. Leung artfully weaves familiar Arthurian lore into Calib’s and Galahad’s personal tales of self-discovery as the nail-biting adventure explores themes of deceit, treachery, loyalty, and sacrifice. Spot art reinforces key motifs.
More suspenseful, enthralling mouse-eye perspective on the Camelot legend . (Animal fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-240402-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
