Squire’s Tale

If you have only heard of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but haven’t read any of their stories, please do!  You don’t need to read the original stories in the ancient English.  Gerald Morris has done a great job of retelling the old stories for modern ears.

The stories are a bit crazy, sometimes scary, but very funny.  Morris’ versions for younger children focus on the funny parts of the tales (read about Sir Lancelot here), but his longer books for older readers include some of the weirder and scarier parts too.  Don’t worry though, they’re still funny – in case you couldn’t tell by the picture on the cover of the first book The Squire’s Tale.

The first book is told from Terence’s point of view – an orphan who unexpectedly becomes Sir Gawain’s squire.  They face many adventures together, including a creepy castle that appears out of nowhere and an evil enchantress who wants to destroy King Arthur.

This enjoyable tale is a part of a long series of books, so it will take readers a while to work through them – great for speed readers, or summer or holiday reading.

Recommended for ages 8 and up (depending upon reading ability).