Books about Camelot

[Jackie]

My own lack of knowledge about classics is showing here, but if my kid wants to read about Camelot, King Arthur, Lancelot, etc, what book(s) am I looking for? Searches turn up so many things.

ETA: 9 years old, but has comfortably read/listened to books intended for adult audiences, though not dense classics. As long as there’s nothing explicitly sexual or sexual violence, it’s probably fair game.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Jackie

[mumto2]

I’m not sure how old your son is but I did The Sword in the Stone as a read aloud at about age 9 for Ds. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/316845.The_Sword_in_the_Stone. I thought it was great!  My son thought it was long.....my daughter loved it.

[HomeAgain]

I thought an interesting take on it was Black Horses For The King, which my oldest read when he was about 11, but ds (age 9) likes a plain book of Tales Of King Arthur by Usborne.

[Bocky]

There are some solid retellings of Malory for children that worked well for my dd (who also was a strong reader) at that age: Roger Lancelyn Green, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table; Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights; and Geraldine Mccaughrean, King Arthur and the Round Table. TH White, The Once and Future King is a wonderful British literature classic, with fabulous imaginative prose. It was too dense for my dd to read herself at 10 yrs, but made an excellent read aloud. I would say that any student ready to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy could read TH White's trilogy about King Arthur.

[Lori D.]

- King Arthur and the Round Table (McCaughrean) -- at a gr. 4-6 reader level; nicely written
- Illustrated Tales of King Arthur (Courtauld) -- at a gr. 3-6 reader level
- King Arthur: Tales from the Round Table (Lang) -- at a gr. 4-8 reader level; nicely written
- The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Pyle) -- there's also the adapted Great Classics Illustrated version, if Pyle's original is a bit too "stout"
- The Sword in the Stone (White) -- as a read-aloud only for a 9yo; this is actually the first of White's 4 books that are collected together in The Once and Future King -- the next 3 books have some mature parts, so I recommend waiting on that one until high school

- Roger Lancelyn Green has a retelling, but I found his retelling of Troy to be tedious -- don't know about his version of King Arthur.
- Emma Gelders-Sterne & Barbara Lindsey's version is the Golden Book one illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren -- it is "okay"

- The Dragon's Boy; Sword of the Rightful King (Yolen) -- retelling of young Arthur
- Young Merlin series (Yolen) -- fictional childhood/growing up of young Merlin the wizard
- Camelot (Yolen) -- collection of short stories by various authors, all as "spins" on traditional Arthur and Merlin myths; more for grade 6+ I would guess
- The Illustrated Book of Knights (Coggins) -- Arthur myths/stories + other knights and myths/stories
- The Camelot Code series (Mancusi) -- Arthur time travels to 21st century, and adventures of trying to get him back into his place in history/myth

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Lori D.

[Storygirl]

Good lists by previous posters!

Also look at the The Squires' Tales and The Knights' Tales series by Gerald Morris. They are written for middle school readers, and are a lot of fun. A more lighthearted take on the original stories. And there are a bunch of them.

There is also a series called The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron, which is a fantasy about Merlin as a boy. Not classic Arthurian stories, but I think they would be enjoyable for a boy who likes Camelot.

Has he seen the recent movie The Boy Who Would be King? It's a modern day Arthurian story. Fun fact: the main character is played by Louis Ashbourne Serkis, son of Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings movies.

[Storygirl]

Also, if he is willing to branch out, I think he would like The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper, which is rooted in Arthurian legend, though it is it's own story.

[Jackie]

On 6/17/2019 at 5:18 PM, Lori D. said:

- The Sword in the Stone (White) -- as a read-aloud only for a 9yo; this is actually the first of White's 4 books that are collected together in The Once and Future King -- the next 3 books have some mature parts, so I recommend waiting on that one until high school

 

Can you elaborate on this? She was looking at tackling The Once and Future King after finishing Lord of the Rings. It’s not usually hard to dissuade her, though, if something is going to be “too much” in some way.

[Lori D.]

20 hours ago, Jackie said:

Can you elaborate on this? She was looking at tackling The Once and Future King after finishing Lord of the Rings. It’s not usually hard to dissuade her, though, if something is going to be “too much” in some way.

Rather than it being tales of adventure, quest, and action, the collection of 4 books is more abstract, and largely about  ideas of governing, types of government, morality and moral/immoral conduct, and ideals/chivalry -- with the handful of major "facts and acts" of Arthur mythology mixed in (the sword in the stone, and the Lancelot/Guinevere love affair) as a the backdrop to the more philosophical musings of the book. Some of the underlying themes include: ideas about morality; the idea that fallen man cannot bring about "heaven on earth" (which was King Arthur's hope and plan for Camelot); discussions on forms of government; and obsession and rejection. It moves more slowly than Lord of the Rings, and does not have the same engaging characters and actions that inhabit Lord of the Rings.

Book 1 = "The Sword in the Stone" and is all about Arthur as the boy "Wart", and his education by Merlin. This is the lightest and most accessible of the the 4 books for younger readers -- but it was still written for adults, and so there is quite a bit of political commentary in it. For example, when Merlin turns Wart into various animals, a lot of what Wart learns about and discusses with the fellow creatures is socio-political philosophy, which will likely go right over a younger student's head.

Book 2 = "The Queen of Air and Darkness" -- the focus is on Queen Morgause, Arthur's half sister, and her 4 children. Scenes include brutality (somewhat graphic) and seduction (not graphic). Specifically: Morgause's seduction of Arthur by bewitching him into thinking she is Guinevere, resulting in Mordred, their child by incest. Book 2 opens with a particularly nasty scene of Morgause murdering a cat and boiling it up for black magic purposes. Also a rather detailed description of the "spancel" (a "tape" of human skin cut from the silhouette of a dead man) which she throws around the sleeping Arthur, thereby enchanting him. There is also a description of Morgause's children brutally beating a donkey, and also a nasty and graphic scene of Morgause's children hunting, killing, and trying to butcher a unicorn, and eventually beheading it and dragging the gory head back to their mother.

Book 3 = "The Ill-Made Knight" follows Lancelot, so it is a lot of Lancelot and Guinevere (King Arthur's wife) being hot and bothered for each other (not graphically described). It also includes the sad marriage relationship of Elaine and Lancelot. -- they spend one night together as a result of Elaine desiring Lancelot, while Lancelot is desperate for Guinevere. They end up with a child (Galahad), and while Lancelot does the honorable thing and marries Elaine, he spends the rest of the book moping and pining for Guinevere and avoiding his wife Elaine and never truly being the husband and father to pledged to be through his marriage vows. This book also spends a fair amount of time discussing Arthur's government and ideals.

Book 4 = "The Candle in the Wind" focuses on the lusty court of King Arthur. Once everything begins to unravel due to the adultery/betrayal by his wife and best friend, Arthur's court all become lustful and pleasure-driven. The infidelity of Lancelot and Guinevere leads to a series of knight battle/challenges in which Lancelot defends Guinevere's "innocence" and "honor" -- but both she and he ARE guilty, and so the challenges lead to a lot of other knights being injured or maimed for keeping up a false pretense for the sake of keeping King Arthur from publicly having to expose his wife and best friend. The book is pretty depressing and slow, as much of it focuses on Arthur's brooding over the failure of Camelot, his coming death, and what his legacy will be.
 

If she's read The Hobbit, and is currently reading/enjoying Lord of the Rings, she might enjoy Tolkien's humorous mock epic short story "Farmer Giles of Ham". And if she's handling Lord of the Rings well, then she would probably enjoy either the Lang, McCaughrean, or Pyle version of King Arthur. And might like the extension works by Yolen about young Arthur and young Merlin. BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Lori D.

[Jackie]

Lori, thank you so much for that detailed description! Except for the lustiness, it kinda sounds right up her alley. This is a kid who watched Great Courses lectures about history and politics for fun, and enjoyed some surprisingly dark fantasy. However, she’s also liked the McCaughrean books she has read, so I think I’ll start her there and then see if she really wants to settle in for the enormity that is Once and Future King.