♥Children's Book of the Month: May 2024♥
(suggested) reading age: 10+
(suggested) interest age: 8-13
Themes: #history #Wales #adventure #humour #fiction
Illustrations: Lleucu Gwenllian https://www.studiolleucu.co.uk/
Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to pause time or even to travel back and forth in time? Quite often, whilst I’m on a walk, I find myself thinking “woah, I wonder what this looked like years ago.” To be honest, living next to Conwy Castle I think this pretty much everyday whilst driving past!
Near my house is the site of the former Deganwy Castle. With little evidence left today apart from a few scattered ruins, if you didn’t know about it, you’d probably miss it. Many, many years ago however, this would have been a magnificent castle claiming a strong position looking out onto the estuary on top of Y Fardre. It would be amazing to see how it was at it’s peak.
Well, there’s no time machine as such in Anturiaethau’r Brenin Arthur by Rebecca Thomas, but some pretty strange things happen regardless. Instead of characters travelling back in time, one famous historical character wakes up in our time.
That's something else I think about sometimes. Imagine being able to meet some famous people from days gone by – it’d be so entertaining to ask them about their experiences. I wonder what they’d think of our modern world today? If I could meet someone from the past, who would I choose? Elvis Presley? Guy Fawkes? Having a chat with Owain Glyndŵr would definitely be on the agenda. Wow, that’d be one hell of a random party!
From Lleucu Gwenllian’s colourful cover and some clues in the blurb, we can pretty much gather what the plot of the story is about. A group of schoolchildren are on a mission; desperate to find out where King Arthur has been sleeping for centuries as per the legend. After going to all the of finding his resting place, there's only one thing to do after... wake him up of course!
If I'm being completely honest, I actually know very little about Arthur. I remember watching the film The Sword in the Stone years ago and I was somewhat familiar with the legend that he was sleeping until the time came that he was needed once again. Other than that, I knew very little about his story. Was he a real person? Is it just a myth? Some additional context about King Arthur could have been useful here, like you get in some books. Regardless, the guy’s a bit of a legend, and that’s what Google and Chat GPT were made for!
After centuries in peaceful solitude, is now the right time to wake him from his slumber? Well, this bunch of Year 9’s seem to think so! Our world is in trouble, gripped by an environmental crisis that threatens us all. The young people of the story understand this, but the politicians don’t listen. No one takes much notice of a group of children, but will they listen to a King?
Get ready for a hilarious adventure, with 'fish out of water' comedic elements as the old King tries to get his head around the wonders of the modern world: seemingly magical devices, strange ways of speaking, odd clothes and of course... crisps!
I always enjoy Gwasg Carreg Gwalch's historic fiction novels, but these are often very challenging and require mature reading skills to properly appreciate them. I was delighted to see a shorter book being released that is much easier for primary age children to read. This book would certainly be one that I would recommend using in the top primary/CC3 as a book to read for pleasure. It ties the history and magic of the past with scientific/environmental messages about our planet’s future. I also like the group chat graphics at the beginning of the book.
Yes, there's plenty of humour in this story, with the sight of a legendary, mythical King eating his way through a packet of cheese and onions being rather amusing. However, amid the light-heartedness, there's a serious message about the future of our planet.
If nothing else, the book makes us realise that we don't need a heroic figure to instigate change- this is something we can all do. The hope for the future rests on the shoulders of our children and young people. I'm pretty hopeful they can sort out the mess we've created (before it's too late!)
This is an entertaining one-off story, with quite a novel and original idea. I can also see that pupils have been involved in the planning process of this novel, which is a great idea.
Shall we have a story about Owain Glyndŵr or Llywelyn ein Llyw Olaf next?
Publisher Gwasg Carreg Gwalch
Released: 2024
Format: paperback
Price: £7.99
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