Knight's Castle [Paperback]

Edward Eager (Author), Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997

KNIGHT'S CASTLE by Edward Eager 198 pages Perhaps magic runs in some families. In KNIGHT'S CASTLE, we meet the children of Katharine and Martha, who run into a bit of magic themselves. Martha's kids, Anne and Roger, must stay with their Aunt Katharine and their cousins Eliza and Jack while their father is in the hospital. Unfortunately, "[t]he last they'd seen of Eliza she'd been just about the bossiest nine-year-old girl on her, or any other, block. As for Jack, all he cared about was his Leica camera, and spent all his time in his darkroom, only coming out for meals, or, as Ann once said wittily, to cast his shadow, like Groundhog Day." The cousins bond, however, over their love of Ivanhoe and Aunt Katharine's present to Roger: a marvelous castle. After Roger wishes on his most prized soldier, called The Old One, strange things begin to happen: "The castle was there, all right, but it seemed hundreds of times bigger, and yet at the same time it seemed hundreds of times farther away. And then Roger looked down, and saw that he wasn't in his room at all." The castle, of course, is magic, and the four children find themselves immersed in the days of Ivanhoe. Eager has fun with his farcical land, replete with Robin Hood and his merry band, the nefarious Brian de Bois-Guilbert and Maurice de Bracy, the simpering Rowena and the lovely Rebecca. What the children play during the day becomes colorful reality at night, and they brush elbows with literary creations who speak a hilarious mix of old and new English ("'Never did Brian de Bois-Guilbert quail before witch or warlock. I defy the foul fiend. And besides, I don't believe it, anyway'"). Eager deftly slips in quotes from Shakespeare and references to The New Yorker and great books --- readers will feel no annoyance at such serious fare; the adventures rule the day.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Odyssey (1997)
• ASIN: B001UYQTY6
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique fantasy, July 29, 2000

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Knight's Castle (Paperback)

This was my first Edward Eager book, and it was not my last. It's a part of Eager's ongoing, sometimes intertwined fantasy serieses starring flawed yet admirable characters. Note: There's a bit of an in-joke in one bit of dialogue, concerning the kids' mothers from a previous book of Eager's, but it won't confuse you if you've so much as read the back of the other books.

Roger and his sister's father needs surgery, and his frightened kids are taken along to stay with their cousins, bossy Eliza and camera-obsessed Jack. The thing that cheers frightened Roger up is a toy castle his aunt gives him, and his vast army of toy soldiers. But the oldest of them all tells Roger that he must EARN his wishes...

Soon Roger and his relatives (parents excluded) are tossed into the medieval world of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe, a world that can be altered by what is set around the toys, such as wastepaper baskets and dollhouses.

The ending is still a bit confusing (I'm not entirely certain what's going on) but the book overall has far more intricacy and imagination than Harry Potter or Which Witch or anything like that. Especially since Eager wrote this decades ago, when children's fantasy was much more scarce. The kids are all totally believable and enjoyable, and the various knights and ladies either make you cheer or boo, depending on whether they're despicable or not..

Utter not the words of power: "Lead soldiers!"

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Book for Kids of Any Age!, December 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Knight's Castle (Edward Eager's Tales of Magic) (Hardcover)

When I was in Sixth Grade in 1964, my teacher read a chapter of this story at the end of each day. No one wanted to go home!!! It's a wonderful story about children who, because their father is ill, have to stay with their cousins. Their Aunt takes everyone to see the movie Ivanhoe and afterwards gives them a miniature castle complete with knights and ladies. Of course the kids designate these toys as the characters in the movie and you guessed it, the castle and the characters magically become alive. Nothing goes like the real story of Ivanhoe and there are many very funny magical adventures. I've read every Edward Eager book and this is the best one!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harry Potter's cousins, January 4, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Los Gatos, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knight's Castle (Edward Eager's Tales of Magic) (Hardcover)

Potter, Schmotter! As much as we loved the Harry Potter books, and my daughters and I devoured them, I knew they would love Edward Eager's books just as much, if not more. Believably real children, believable magic, everyday situations that turn out to be anything but, Edward Eager wrote about it all forty years ago. My older sister introduced me to Half Magic when I was about 8, and after reading the whole collection, I re-read them again in high school. Knight's Castle was always my favorite, for all the reasons mentioned by the other reviews, but also because it dealt with the very real situation of children who have more and children who have less, and how we all get along. I wonder, what is Edward Eager doing now? Does anyone know?