King Arthur

·         Title:  King Arthur

·         Author:  Don Hinkle

·         Illustrator:  Jerry Tiritilli

·         Publisher:  Troll Associates

·         Copyright:  1988

·         ISBN #:  0-8167-1214-X

·         Genre:  Arthurian Romances

·         Library Location:  The Canyon Area Library

·         Summary:

This book starts with Arthur and his brother Kay at a tournament for a chance to try and pulled the sword from the stone to be king.  However Kay’s sword breaks during the tournament and in a rush to find him a sword Arthur pulls the sword from the stone.  Once Arthur is declared king there is a battle between his followers and knights who don’t believe he should be king.  Arthur then hears stories about a black night and decides that he must fight him, but during battle Arthur’s sword is broken and Merlin must intervene.  In need of a new sword Arthur goes in search for Excalibur and receives it from the lake.  Arthur then falls in love with Guinevere but is afraid that she will only love him because he is king, so Merlin magically discusses him as a gardener and Guinevere falls for him.  As a wedding present Guinevere’s father gives Arthur his father’s round table which Arthur immediately fills with knights.  In the mean time his sister Morgan la Fay tries to have Arthur killed, but only succeeds in stealing his scabbard which keeps him from injury.  Her son Mordred is however more successful in getting rid of the king and convinces Arthur that Guinevere and Lancelot are having an affair.  Even after Arthur banishes Lancelot Mordred tells Arthur that Lancelot will get an army and come back and take Camelot, so Arthur takes his army to defeat Lancelot’s.  While Arthur is away Mordred tries to become king of Camelot but Arthur hears of his treachery and quickly returns.  During battle Mordred is killed and Arthur is badly wounded, he has one of his knights return Excalibur back to the lake before being helped onto an unmanned ship and sailing away, never to be heard from again.

·         Personal Comments:

This book is the first that I have heard of Arthur falling for Guinevere but discussing himself because of his fear that she will only want to marry him because he is king.  As much as I like hearing about a young Arthur I am glad that this book goes right to the heart of the story and starts with an Arthur pulling the sword from the stone.  It gives me more time to focus on his journeys as a man and what he wanted to do as a king.  I am beginning to realize as I read some of these stories that maybe Guinevere was not unfaithful, but that Arthur was tricked into thinking that he was.  This makes the section of the story where Arthur poses as a gardener to urn the favor of Guinevere.  This version of the story shows more about his character and that he did not want the fact that he was king to change him or the way that people perceived him.

·         Suggested Use in Classroom:

In the end of this book Arthur and Mordred try to come to an agreement before they battle and they almost did, but Moran La Fay used her magic to trick the knights into battle.  I would use this book in class to show the students what could have happened and what would happen to the King Arthur legend if one author had have changed the ending.  I would have my students re-write the end of this story with Arthur and Mordred coming to an agreement.  The students could not just leave it at that they would have to tell me what happens to Arthur next and “the all lived happily ever after” would not be a viable option.  I might also have my students speculate as to what could happen to the legend of King Arthur if a well known author did change the end, would the story still have the same appeal.