Young Adelrune is a likable little boy oppressed by his strict stepparents, who are in turn under the thumb of a narrow and harsh religious rule. Finding privacy in his stepparents' attic before he has even learned to read, Adelrune discovers a dusty copy of The Book of Knights. The pictures enchant him and obsess him to the point where he is motivated to learn to read, so that he can have access to the words of this secret treasure as well. The years of his young childhood are made bearable by the ideas and images of the book, and he resolves to run away and become a knight - a story that will enchant readers the way Adelrune himself was charmed and entertained.
"An unpredictable, brilliantly imaginative, and very engaging fantasy."
URSULA K. LE GUIN "Like traditional medieval tales, Meynard's story is full of strange events and stranger creatures. In addition to these marvels, the story has a surprising emotional depth. All in all, The Book of Knights is pure delight."
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
"A Bildungsroman whose closest analogue would be an adult version of Norton Juster's children's classic The Phantom Tollbooth. The Book of Knights is a tale of self-discovery that will entertain and enlighten both children and their parents."
WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
"I read Yves Meynard's The Book of Knights in one sitting. It's a lovely, lively, truly enchanting book, filled with wonders and nightmares, and not a little wisdom"
SUSAN PALWICK
Jacket art, Meeting Between Parisfal and the King of Cumberland, by Christian Jank; from the ET Archive, London/SuperStock.
