King Arthur and the Round Table (Books of Wonder)

From School Library Journal Grade 2-4?Talbott began retelling Sir Thomas Malory's Morte D'Arthur with King Arthur: The Sword in the Stone (Morrow, 1991). This sequel contains roughly three episodes. The first is that of the civil wars raging through Britain. Arthur fights, views the desolation, and asks Merlin how to unify his people. The second is his fateful meeting with Guinevere, his love for her, and finally their marriage. The third section concerns the Round Table, but ends after Arthur assembles his knights around it and their names magically appear on the backs of their chairs. There is no lingering on the peace-bringing quality that roundness supplies. The rich watercolor tableaux, predominantly double-page spreads, paint war as bloody and painful, not all glorious. The love scenes glow golden. The Round Table, huge and decorated with the signs of the zodiac, exhibits its power more than the words do. Overall, this is a rousing addition to the current pickings of Arthurian stories.?Helen Gregory, Grosse Pointe Public Library, MICopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review A swift, almost frantic, second volume in the Tales of King Arthur series, covering Arthur's battles with rebellious nobles, the meeting with Guinevere as she tends wounded upon Bedegraine's battlefield, the vanquishing of King Ryence, marriage to Guinevere, and dedication of the Round Table. It's quite a bite for a picture book, and a spirited production at that, with armies riding on horseback, swarming festivities, the wizard Merlin conjuring a fire-breathing dragon from the Round Table, plus an intense romance, all brought alive by Talbott's dramatic, cinematic watercolors. The story is rushed, a saga hitched to a rocket, hurling readers from battle to love story, back to battle, to a pining Arthur, back to battle, and then to Camelot, all without chance to appreciate the events in their entirety. Younger children will find it too hurried to take in, and older ones may move on, instead, to novel-size retellings. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.