The Kingdom of Carbonel [Hardcover]

Barbara Sleigh (Author), Richard Kennedy (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2009 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Night falls and Cat Country comes to life: town walls turn into roads, roof and treetop become mountain and field. The black cat Carbonel and his consort, Queen Blandamour, have long reigned over this magical place, where humans are scarce, cats roam freely, and the rivers flow with cream. But the wicked Grisana, a beautiful gray Persian who makes Lady Macbeth look like a lap cat, has plans of her own for Cat Country, and Carbonel and his children, Prince Calidor and Princess Pergamond, are all that stand between her and the throne. With the backing of Carbonel’s old foe, the witch Mrs. Cantrip, and her apprentice, Miss Dibdin, Grisana may be unstoppable.

Luckily, Carbonel can count on Rosemary and John, his young friends from Carbonel: The King of the Cats, to come to his aid. Together with the good creatures of Cat Country—and with the help of a few magical spells—the children confront Grisana and her nasty crew. It is a battle for the future of Cat Country and only the strongest magic will prevail.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A delightful story for those who like impossible things to happen in a humdrum world...The children are lively, the grown-ups (including the witch) colorful and the mingling of magic and reality is most effective." –The New York Times

“The Carbonel books are excellent, imbued with wonder, dry humor, and practicality in equal measure, as well as a clear-eyed and sometimes sardonic love of cats... The moment when Cat Country first made itself known in The Kingdom of Carbonel gave me a flash of wonder, of entering into a larger world. Books that do this are to be cherished.” --Pamela Dean, author of The Secret Country

"The magic is potent in The Kingdom of Carbonel...As told in Barbara Sleigh's graceful, humorous manner it seems only right and natural that those two English children, Rosemary and John, should again meet Mrs. Cantrip, that retired witch who still can't resist dabbling in mischief and that hey should champion their old friend the black cat whose kingdom is threatened and whose wife and kittens are in grave danger. The children have some very worthwhile experiences including trips in an airborne rocking chair (very bumpy), an accident with an invisibility spell and the challenge of Mrs. Cantrip's Minuscule Magic powder." –The New York Times

About the Author

Barbara Sleigh (1906—1982) is the author of Carbonel: The King of The Cats (The New York Review Children’s Collection, 2004) and its two sequels, The Kingdom of Carbonel and Carbonel and Calidor (to be published by The New York Review Children’s Collection in 2010). She worked for the BBC’s Children’s Hour.

Besides being a well-known illustrator of children’s books, Richard Kennedy (1910—1989) worked in oils and watercolors. He went to work for Leonard and Virginia Woolf at their embryonic Hogarth Press in 1926, at the age of sixteen, and was propelled into Bloomsbury life. He is the author of A Boy at Hogarth Press, an illustrated diary of his years there.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: NYR Children's Collection (June 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590173155
• ISBN-13: 978-1590173152
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carbonel, King of Cats, July 23, 2001

By 

G. Miller (Placerville, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kingdom of Carbonel (Hardcover)

I sat in our old town library as a 10 year old and could not put these books down (I'm now 46 and an elementary teacher). I remember that the story revolved around a girl who found a magic broom and then could talk to Carbonel, hence learning all about the magical kingdom of cats that other people knew nothing about. Finding the broom and getting to know Carbonel opened up a whole new, magical world that kept me enthralled. The only books I have ever read since then that have kept my attention in that same sort of way are the Harry Potter Books. I have spent years looking for the Carbonel books and now thanks to computers I have been able to find them. I hope that someone will let a publisher know and that these really great stories will be reprinted and shared with other young people. There is something truely magical about them and I have thought about Carbonel many times throughout my life.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kingdom of Carbonel, November 3, 2000

By 

M. Denning (Milpitas, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kingdom of Carbonel (Hardcover)

When I was a child I found a book called Carbonel the King of Cats and fell in love. The sequel Kingdom of Carbonel takes place after Carbonel became the King, got married and had children. The escapades of Rosemary to find the lost kittens was wonderful. Editors!! This book is worth reprinting!!! In fact the whole series is worth reprinting!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Golden Memories, August 19, 2005

By 

Winterdark (Centreville, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kingdom of Carbonel (Hardcover)

I, too, found this book as a child and was absolutely captivated, so much so that I got a friend to track down the original (Carbonel) and buy me a copy from England. Carbonel is now available in the US, and I very much hope the same publisher publishes Kingdom of Carbonel as well. There is such magic and delight in the book and images that have stayed with me all my life, particularly the talking kittens and the flying rocking chair.

One of the other reviewers mentioned Harry Potter. There is a great deal of similarity of mood between the Carbonel books and Harry Potter. One can easily imagine Rosemary Brown as a muggle caught up in the same magical world Harry is from. (She even has neighbors named Mr. and Mrs. Tonks.)