When the ancient toy soldier comes alive, the Old One grants Roger's wish to adventure in "yeomanly" Sherwood Forest. Will Roger earn his second wish, to save his father? Need for an operation brings Roger 11 and younger Ann to stay with bossy cousin Eliza and Jack. Can the children convince Ivanhoe to marry Rebecca over Rowena, and conquer the castle - in pjs?
Details Knight's Castle (Tales of Magic, #2)
Reviews Knight's Castle (Tales of Magic, #2)
Great fun, just like the first in the series! And if you’re a fan of knights, castles, and medieval-type adventures, you might like it even better!Like Half Magic, this is a magical adventure story featuring four kids. Like Half Magic, the kids aren’t quite in control of the magic, so it takes some funny twists and turns. And also like Half Magic, there’s character growth at the end, which adds depth to all the fun.One thing about Edward Ea...
Roger, a boy with a magical talking toy soldier that has been passed through his family, and his sister, Ann learn that their father is sick. As a result, they have to go to stay with their cousins, Jack and Eliza in Baltimore, Maryland. Every night they have adventures with magical toy knights. The Knight's Castle is a wonderful story full of adventure and fantasy. In the world of the toy soldiers, anything can happen if you wish it hard enough....
A mid 20th century children's classic. I read this because it was there. At the time I was making my way through The English Patient; oh wait I am still making my way through The English Patient!Anyhow, any book that fell in my path that was not The English Patient had a good chance of being read. This one my son had left in my room. So I read it because it wasn't The English Patient! Really a delightful and whimsical story. I appreciated the nod...
Eager is the American answer to Edith Nesbit, and all his fantasies for children, including this one, are irresistibly funny. Knight's Castle is the sort of book you'll enjoy if you like books where medieval knights learn to play baseball and venerate a mysterious object that turns out to be a large can of soup. Robin Hood and Ivanhoe make an appearance, and there are echoes of The Borrowers and the Narnia books.
This one jumps ahead 30 years from the previous book - it's good, but definitely not my favorite of the series.
This book was really, really fun for us. Early on in the story, the children went to see Ivanhoe at the movie theater. By the copyright date, it was probably the version with Elizabeth Taylor. Being unfamiliar with the tale of Ivanhoe, we paused our reading and looked up both the book and the movie. I read the original story on the side, and we all watched a "newer" Ivanhoe movie from 1982. The kids adored it and watched it twice. This gave us fo...
Roger and Ann's father is ill, and Roger wishes on an ancient lead soldier toy for his father to be healed. But the magical lead soldier tells Roger that wishes must be earned, and Roger, his sister, and their cousins are swept into an adventure of derring-do in the Merry England of Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, and King Richard the Lionheart.The moment Roger arrives in this magical land, everything seems to go wrong despite his good intentions! Roger beg...
This is my second Eager book. This author is really a kick! He even puts a tongue-in-cheek reference to a Keats poem ("La belle dame sans merci") in one of his descriptions of a knight in the book. And then there's the kooky and completely delightful hodge-podge story itself, which includes a re-telling of the Ivanhoe story in a way that has to delight fans of Sir Walter Scott (even the purists!) Where else would you find Ivanhoe dumping the anno...
One of the best books I've ever read, with some of my favorite characters. Hilarious and heartfelt at the same time. I can't recomend it enough! A word of warning: much of the story revolves around the story of Ivanhoe, so if you've read Ivanhoe or watched one of the film versions, you'd enjoy this book more. Personally, I read this before I even knew what Ivanhoe was, and still loved it.
This has been the best of Eager's books so far. I think it appealed even more to me because it focuses so much on knights, castles, and even Robin Hood (confession: Robin Hood is probably my favorite Disney movie ever). Eager has also put in several funny things for adults to catch, too. Another one that I'm eager (yuk yuk) to share with my kids.Rating: G.
After reading most of the Tales of Magic series now, I have to admit that I prefer the older generation's dynamic to the younger one. The cousins squabble so much that it gets in the way of the adventures. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2017/comm...
This is a simple little tale of a group of children who discover a little bit of magic in an old toy soldier. In Eager’s work, magic has fairly strict rules (in Half-Magic, the charm granted any wish–but only in halves), and here the rules work as a kind of companion to the idea that magic can only work if you continue to believe in it (that is, if you start to think of the creatures you are interacting with simply as dolls, they revert to b...
Such fun reading these classic children's fantasy adventures. Brings back lots of fond memories of when I first heard them read to me, and of when I first read them for myself, and of when I read them to my older children years ago. A lovely slice of nostalgia, excellent and thoroughly enjoyable.- Another good story from Edward Eager that really holds up well.
A fun follow-up to Half Magic featuring the children of two of the siblings from that previous book. Knight's Castle is a sort of mash-up of E. Nesbit's The Magic City and the 1952 film version of Ivanhoe. Familiarity with the former isn't necessary, but familiarity with the latter will definitely increase enjoyment of the story. But being familiar with neither, the kids and I still enjoyed this one quite a bit. The four children featured in th...
Not quite as timeless as Half Magic, but an enjoyable story for the kids and a phone one to read aloud as a parent.
I had forgotten this one. It is lovely.
Another adorable book in the series continuing the story of Martha and Katherine's children experiences with magic.- Is there any magic in the world? Edward Eager answers this question in Knight's Castle. Edward Eager makes all the characters seem real with their great personalities. Jack is a great demonstration of this with his love of photos and sport. Edward also makes something a mystery in some way. Like during the part where the old one gives them a riddle to help them, but they don't figure out in till the end. He also almost always end a part a way you...
My kids have thoroughly enjoyed read-alouds of Eager's books before, so we were looking forward to this one. While still a fun, goofy, imaginative romp with great dialogue, this one was tougher than others. It relied heavily upon the plot of Ivanhoe, which neither my kids nor I had any familiarity with. That made it tough to follow along, though we did enjoy the characters and the interaction between the real and magic worlds. So, still a good bo...
I read this with Kylie as part of Build Your Library's 2nd grade curriculum. I enjoyed it, though not nearly as much as Half Magic, the first book in the series, which was not part of the curriculum, but we chose to read first anyway. I'm glad we did. I wonder, if we had read or watched Ivanhoe first, if we would have enjoyed it more, since I believe it was meant to be a spoof of Ivanhoe. But I am interested in other books in the series still.- Knight's Castle follows in the Edward Eager tradition established in book one of the Tales of Magic. The connection here to the first of the series is so minimal that there is no need specifically seek out and read it except for the enjoyment.Knight's Castle involves characters that are less likable and suffers mildly for it. The adventures are entertaining but the time between drags on. Fitting as the children tended to complain of the same thin...
The first was better somehow, although this book had the same kind of magic in it.The only thing that wasn't perfect was the characters - I adored Anna and Roger but Jack and Eliza were something of disappointment. The story, though, was as special as the first. I'm quite happy with this series.
I'm not sure why this was on my list? Standard whimsical children's book. Didn't stand out very much, though I did like that the little sister, Ann, was just as equal of a protagonist, and the Ivanhoe parallels were quite fun.
this is a pretty appealing story. It is, unfortunately, quite full of 1950s sexism. To give it proper credit, it may have been progressive for the 1950s, but this will still be an object lesson for a modern kid.- Totally the perfect thing for a sleep-deprived mama to read during a nap strike. Before our kids are ready for E Nesbit, they're going to love these Eager books.
- Too much Ivanhoe and old fashioned language for my crew, but they still liked the story and we're on to the next.
- I love this book. At first I didn't really get it, but then I got used to it and loved this book, Knight's Castle.
