The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha [Mass Market Paperback]

Lloyd Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1998 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Lukas is in the town square, watching a seedy-looking magician--and the next thing he knows, he's drowning in a far-distant sea. When he comes ashore, the first people he meets hail him as king of Abadan. Being king is fine with Lukas; that is, it would be fine if everyone wasn't trying to murder him! A fantasy so original, told in such imaginative English, that it may be considered [Alexander's] peak performance. --Publishers Weekly Lloyd Alexander's many honors include a Newbery Medal for The High King, a Newbery Honor Award for The Black Cauldron, and two American Book Awards. His most recent novel is The Iron Ring (Dutton). He and his wife live in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141300574
• ISBN-13: 978-0141300573
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,288,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Few writers have inspired as much affection and interest among readers young and old as Lloyd Alexander. At one point, however, it seemed unlikely that he would ever be a writer at all. His parents could not afford to send him to college. And so when a Philadelphia bank had an opening for a messenger boy, he went to work there. Finally, having saved some money, he quit and went to a local college. Dissatisfied with not having learned enough to be a writer he left at the end of one term. Adventure, he decided was the best way. The United States had already entered World War II. Convinced that here was a chance for real deeds of derring-do, he joined the army -- and was promptly shipped to Texas where he became, in disheartening succession an artilleryman, a cymbal player in the band, an organist in the post chapel, and a first-aid man. At last, he was assigned to a military intelligence center in Maryland. There he trained as a member of a combat team to be parachuted into France to work with the Resistance. "This, to my intense relief, did not happen," says Alexander. Instead, Alexander and his group sailed to Wales to finish their training. This ancient, rough-hewn country, with its castles, mountains, and its own beautiful language made a tremendous impression on him. But not until years later did he realize he had been given a glimpse of another enchanted kingdom. Alexander was sent to Alsace-Lorraine, the Rhineland, and southern Germany. When the war ended, he was assigned to a counterintelligence unit in Paris. Later he was discharged to attend the University of Paris. While a student he met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine, and they soon married. Life abroad was fascinating, but eventually Alexander longed for home. The young couple went back to Drexel Hill, near Philadelphia, where Alexander wrote novel after novel which publishers unhesitatingly turned down. To earn his living, he worked as a cartoonist, advertising writer, layout artist, and associate editor for a small magazine. It took seven years of constant rejection before his first novel was at last published. During the next ten years, he wrote for adults. And then he began writing for young people.Doing historical research for Time Cat he discovered material on Welsh mythology. The result was The Book of Three and the other chronicles of Prydain, the imaginary kingdom being something like the enchanted land of Wales. In The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen Alexander explored yet another fantastic world. Evoking an atmosphere of ancient China, this unique multi-layered novel was critically acclaimed as one of his finest works. Trina Schart Hyman illustrated The Fortune-tellers as a Cameroonian folktale sparkling with vibrant images, keen insight and delicious wit. Most of the books have been written in the form of fantasy. But fantasy, Alexander believes, is merely one of many ways to express attitudes and feelings about real people, real human relationships and problems

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what this book means to me..., October 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha (School & Library Binding)

I am a university student now, and looking back on the events of my childhood that shaped my life, I have to include this book. Never before had anything stuck in my head and stayed with me so much. I have led a full and rich life, but it is fuller and richer than would otherwise be due to the thing this book did to me. Many books, good and otherwise, operate by leaving readers either fulfilled - as in comedies - or unfulfilled - as in tragedies. Very rarely does a book manage to successfully wield both. Though it must be odd to find this in a book intended for a younger audience, I think it is one of the best things that can happen to a child. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the reader is forced to reflect on it, by sheer writing ability and quality of story. Suddenly, a child must both recognize the tragedy and the comedy, and feel it buzzing in their brain for years. I never thought about what I read before. I never thought much about anything, just doing what seemed the proper thing to do. After this book, I began to really think. Thank you, Mr. Alexander, for giving the youth of the world this book. You touch lives, and shape minds more than most teachers, and on a much larger scale. I will never forget the magician, the bucket of water, or Lukas Kasha. I will be thinking of them on my death bed. They have become a part of my psyche. Oh, yeah, buy this book. I strongly recommend it for children 3rd-7th grade, and anyone else in the market for a good read. If I could give it five more stars, I would.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad trip, March 11, 2003

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha (Mass Market Paperback)

"The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha" is a fast-paced, funny adventure by Newbery-winner Lloyd Alexander. It's got action, a dash of romance, humor, tragedy, and a moral lesson that doesn't beat you over the head. It's not quite perfect, but fairly close to it.

Lukas-Kasha is a professional bum, an accomplished slacker, a boy who takes great pride in doing nothing at all. But all that has to change when a strange magician sends him through time and space in a bucket of water. He washes up on a strange beach, and is quickly whisked off to the city of Abadan and is crowned King Kasha. (It was prophecied by the astrologer that the next king would come from the sea)

At first, Lukas is fine with this. Then he finds that the sinister vizier Shugdad is using him as a puppet -- and when he rebels, Shugdad plans to do away with him as he did the previous two kings. So Lukas runs away into the desert with a proud slave girl (Nur-Jehan) and a tart-tongued poet (Karim), to get help from the fierce, honorable Bishangaris. But Shugdad still wants to kill Lukas, and will do anything to get control of Abadan.

Alexander uses a cultural backdrop to most of his books -- most notably Wales in the Prydain Chronicles, but he also uses China, India, Greece, and so forth. This time, it's the Middle-East; he does an outstanding job of the exotic city of Abadan and the raw wilderness of the desert. There are some outstandingly funny scenes, such as Lukas tricking a merchant out of a horse. And the subplot about Lukas's growing selflessness is an excellent, subtle moral lesson.

Lukas is one of Alexander's most likeable heroes. He initially isn't very sympathetic because he is so proudly, insistently lazy, but his untapped decency wins out when he is called on to be a king, or a warrior, a trickster, or a peacemaker. He just needed something to spur him on. Nur-Jehan is flatter than most of Alexander's heroines, because she lacks that special spark that the other heroines do. Karim is likeably acidic, the voice of reason, and the astrologer Lucman is sweet because he simply cannot get his predictions right, until he's scrounging in the streets.

It's not Alexander's best, but it's up near the top of the list. "The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha" is definitely worth a read, and definitely a keeper.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best!, May 17, 2002

By 

apoem "apoem" (Bosque Farms, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an absolutely enjoyable book. Lukas Kasha is a young man who claims the title of the town laze- when a magician sends him to another land and he's the new king of this land. Lukas Kasha much grow up, learn to govern, and stick to his morals in a kingdom of very few morals. (Killing is the norm for many of the people in this new land.) The plot is fast paced and the characters are fun. It is easy to get swept up in reading this book and loose all sence of time. Wonderful. I particularly liked the lessons Lukas learns during his adventure and how he takes them right away and puts them into place in his life. I also liked how he tried to do right by people even though encouraged not to and the easier way would be to not help the people he did help. Truly a great lesson in how everything that you put out, you get back ten fold.

Enjoy.