Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield (Asterix (Darguard)) [Paperback]

Rene de Goscinny (Author), Goscinny (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Asterix (Darguard)

Julius Caesar has never recovered from his defeat by Vercingetorix. Now, years after, Caesar wants to salve his wounded pride by parading triumphantly with Vercingetorix’s shield. But where can it be? Will Caesar or the Gauls find it first?

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rene Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926, and spent most of his childhood in Argentina, before eventually moving to Paris in 1951. He died in 1977. Albert Uderzo was born in 1927 in a small village in Marne, France. He met Rene Goscinny in 1951 and on 29 October 1959 their most famous creation, Asterix, made his first appearance on page 20 of Pilote. Asterix the Gaul, their first album, was published in 1961 and there have now been 33 Asterix albums. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback
• Publisher: Dargaud Publishing International (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0917201671
• ISBN-13: 978-0917201677
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,817,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great comic - lousy binding!, January 21, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield (Asterix (Darguard)) (Paperback)

This book fell apart after one reading. Just a word of caution. The comic itself is good, but all of our Asterix books have fallen apart after 1 or more read-throughs. They need to improve their glue. Now I have to have it spiral bound.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield, March 29, 2000

By 

Chitra Raghav - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield (Asterix (Darguard)) (Paperback)

The humorous depiction of the adventures of the inhabitants of one small village in Gaul, (modern day France) which defies Roman occupation in 50 BC with the superhuman power of a magic potion. Its full of beautiful visuals and excellent pun, especially the play of words in conversation and names of characters. Its gentle satire pokes fun on modern life, art and politics with caricatures of Napoleon, Shakespeare, Zorro and even James Bond.

In this adventure, the Gaulish Chief Vitalstatistix is sick-because of eating and drinking too much. He is advised by Druid Getafix to go on a diet at a famous slimming & health spa at Averne. Asterix and Obelix who accompany him, go touring Averne and get into trouble with Romans. After hearing about the trouble, Caesar decides to humiliate the Gauls by being paraded on the shield of Vercingetorix, the leader of the Gauls whom Caesar defeated in the battle of Alesia, which remains till date, the most bitter memory for the gauls.

But the famous shield is missing. Along with the Romans, Asterix and Obelix start hunting for the Shield for their procession with Vitalstatistix. The hunt for the shield ends when a slimmed down chief comes back and its indeed easy to guess who rides on the shield in the end.

Great fun to read. A must have for Asterix fans & collectors.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great story, but pages fell out., December 10, 2003

By 

Thomas Wikman "Texas Swede" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield (Paperback)

(...).

As a child, I read all of the "classic" Asterix books in Swedish. As an adult and now living in the U.S., I am reading them again to my children, but this time in English. This is a good classic. As someone pointed out, the pages of some Asterix books, like this one, falls out after only minor wear. It seems like only the old classics do that. However, they are all out of stock by now anyway. Maybe future reprints of the classics will be as good as the new ones (with respect to binding). In general, the old classics have more entertaining stories than the new ones.

Asterix and Obelix live in a village in Gaul that the Romans failed to conquer. The reason for this is that the village druid knows how to make a magic potion that endows the villagers with super human strength. In this book the village chief, becomes sick from eating too much unhealthy food and is sent to recover at a health spa. Asterix and Obelix are accompanying their chief. Obelix the great Gourmet and Gourmand have no plans to diet, however, which makes his presence torturous to the patients. The main storyline is centered on a missing shield, which a defeated Gaulish King threw before (on) the feet of Julius Caesar. Very entertaining, and filled with great puns, as well as skillful wordplay.

I object to the druids name "Getafix". Whoever came up with the English names for the characters did not have kids in mind. The Swedish translation was a lot better concerning this item.

In general I find that, children the age 5-13 really enjoy these books, and so do my children. Adults can enjoy these books as well. The Asterix comic books are a great way to teach children ancient history. Naturally, the adult needs to help with the differentiation between fiction and history. From these books, my kids have learned about the Roman Empire, the ancient Greeks, the Vikings, the Goths, the Phoenicians, ancient Gaul, ancient Egypt, and the ancient Mediterranean world in general.

My ten year old started loving these books at the age of eight and he cannot get enough of them. My six year old started liking them at the age of five. Even though many Asterix puns may be a little bit above his head, my younger son still loves these stories.

In my opinion the best Asterix albums are: Asterix and the Normans; Asterix in Corsica; Obelix and company; Asterix the Gladiator; Asterix the Legionary; Asterix and Cleopatra; Asterix and the Goths; Asterix in Belgium; Asterix and the big fight; and Asterix all around Gaul. The last title is a translation from Swedish and might be wrong.