The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight (The Squire's Tales) [Hardcover]

Gerald Morris (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: The Squire's Tales

Ever since that tragic night when her mother and guardian were murdered, thirteen-year-old Sarah has been living on her own and searching for the knight who was responsible. Her quest for revenge leads to an even greater adventure when she witnesses Queen Guinevere being kidnapped. Soon Sarah finds herself accompanying Sir Gawain and Squire Terence on a remarkable journey to rescue the Queen. In their travels they meet, among others, a mystery knight traveling incognito in a dung cart, a faery who becomes Sarah’s first friend in a long time, a reclusive monk who plans to spend the rest of his life building a tomb for Sir Lancelot, and a princess who might have a little more gumption than she appears to.
As the plot thickens, Sarah finds out more about the people she’s met and befriended, as well as about herself. She begins to learn the true consequences of vengeance and what it really means to be a princess.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-In grand storytelling style, the author continues his series with Sarah, an orphaned teenager who is on a quest for revenge when she encounters Queen Guinevere and Sir Kai. After Kai catches Sarah trying to steal his sword, he gives her a special sword made for his son and teaches her how to use it. When the evil Sir Meliagant kidnaps Guinevere and wounds Kai, Sarah searches for a way to help them. A crone leads her to Camelot where she meets King Arthur, and she goes with Sir Gawain and his squire to rescue Kai and Guinevere. On the road, they encounter trickery, danger, and many characters and plot twists. Sarah gets her revenge, but it is not sweet, and this well-drawn character eventually finds strength and peace within herself. This imaginative novel doesn't take itself too seriously, and yet Morris manages to make some serious points. In the author's note, he is open about taking liberties with Chretien de Troyes's original story The Knight of the Cart, but, after all, there is no one, true Arthurian legend. Readers looking for page-turning adventure, a strong heroine, and some fun will find it all here.
Cheri Dobbs, Detroit Country Day Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. After witnessing the abduction of Queen Guinevere and Sir Kay, 13-year-old Sarah detours from her own quest and seeks out King Arthur at Camelot. Soon she and her new allies embark on an adventure based on an early Arthurian tale by Chretien de Troyes. As in the other novels in the rewarding Squire's Tales series, Morris reshapes traditional plot elements, infuses them with humor and fantasy, and creates a highly readable story. More than the other books, though, this one exposes the dark side of the Middle Ages, for Sarah recalls seeing her mother and their Jewish friend burned at the stake by a peasant mob while a nearby knight called them "Christ-killers." In the appended author's note, Morris comments on the "grim historical fact" of prejudice, injustice, and violence against Jews in medieval Europe. The novel is driven by a keen sense of justice and lightened by droll wit. A terrific cast of characters energizes the story, which plays out against a colorful, well-developed historical background. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; 2nd Edition edition (March 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618378235
• ISBN-13: 978-0618378234
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,236,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gerald Morris grew up in Singapore, where his parents were Baptist missionaries. Singapore was a great, safe place to grow up, and he remembers that time with fond nostalgia. (Ditto for being Baptist, actually.) Since reaching adulthood, he has worked as a minister, a religion professor, a landscaper, and a teacher, all to support his predilection for writing children's novels. Or maybe the writing income supports his ministry habit.

He now lives in Wausau, Wisconsin with his wife and three kids. (Okay, one's at college and another's about to go.) There he serves as associate pastor at the First United Methodist Church, writes children's and YA novels (mostly about King Arthur), and still occasionally scapes land.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The second best book of the year!, September 24, 2004

By 

M. A. Bechaz "bookaholic" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight (The Squire's Tales) (Hardcover)

So far this year I have only read one book better than this one--and that was 'The Savage Damsel And The Dwarf', by the same author who wrote this, Gerald Morris.

Mr Morris has a true gift for writing. All of his books are good, and I would heartily recommend reading every single one of them. However, it is in his books that star strong, willful female heroines that he really shines. Let's face it, strong women are inspiring and exciting, and unfortunately, also rather too rare in literature, or even in films and television. Girl power is great! (Personally, I think that was why the tv series 'Buffy' was always better than its spinoff 'Angel', because it had more strong, likeable female characters.)

In this novel, young, brave, determined Sarah goes looking for revenge, but ends up finding herself. Her journey is as much about self-discovery as it is a quest for justice, and the outcome is upliftingly beautiful and poignant.

Yes, this book tackles some serious issues, but thankfully, in the skilled hands of Gerald Morris, it is also incredibly witty, entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny! Plus, as always, there's lots of knights in shining armour, exchanging both swordplay and wordplay equally cuttingly.

I only hope that this brilliant author writes more books in this series, because I've read them all now, and I'm going into serious withdrawal...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We fight over who gets to read the next one in the series first!, April 2, 2007

By 

P. Wilson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight (The Squire's Tales) (Paperback)

After reading one book by author Gerald Morris, we were addicted! Now my husband (43), my son (12), and myself (37) are fighting over every book in the Squire's Tales series that we can get our hands on! We bought this book because we heard it was "good literature." We had no idea HOW good until we read it. It is clever, witty, sarcastic, adventurous, and inspirational! My husband laughed so hard he cried! It is a very entertaining retelling of the King Arthur stories and Canterbury Tales, complete with knights, castles, princesses, magic, fairies, herbs with healing powers, and quests! The characters as sassy and full of spunk, and there is a new adventure around every corner. We recommended these books to our local library, some of the librarians read one of the books, and they ended up ordering a bunch of the books from The Squire's Tales series for the library. (This book is the sixth in the series.) It is easy to recommend such a charming and entertaining book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an EXCELLENT ADVENTURE book by XMMO, December 28, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight (The Squire's Tales) (Paperback)

This is a great book! It's not as funny as THE SQUIRE'S TALE, but it's more adventure. You see, Sarah witnesses the Queen and Sir Kai's obduction, and she goes for help. Soon she finds herself accompanied by the famous Sir Gawain, his squire, Terence, and searching for the queen and kai. But Sarah's also on a quest of her own, with only a mysterious old crone to help her. This book is filled with ACTION, ADVENTURE, KNIGHTS, ENCHANTMENTS, SUSPENSE, MAGIC, OTHER-WORLDLY-BEINGS, all on a MEDIEVAL back ground! This really is a great read!