LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Said the Duchess, “Good idea, my dear. All we need is one knight who is so strong he can pull that sword from the stone. Then we will have a king again, at last!” By the time Arthur was 16, his brother Kay had become a knight. He was now called Sir Kay. Arthur loved nothing more than to serve his brother as a squire. He kept great care of his brother’s tunic and helmet, his spears and lances.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide. Get started CloseI think the lesson in this story is that sometimes it does not matter whether you are strong with muscles, it matters that you are strong in heart! Arthur!” he called out. Arthur was once again by the woods, feeding birds from his hand. He set down a pile of seeds for the birds, and a pile for the squirrels. Then he ran fast to see his brother. Dissertation reread time! I acquired a distaste for T.H. White sometime during my MA, and I'm not sure exactly why: rereading The Sword in the Stone, I still rather loved it, with its gentle humour and the character of the narratorial voice and its understanding of each character. I note that in my first review I noticed the way it treats Kay, which is a good sign for this dissertation...

Later, Wart speaks to Archimedes about crows and is turned into an owl. He then has a mystical encounter with the goddess Athene at the "Tree of Dreams." After this, Merlyn takes the boys to see a giant. They narrowly escape being crushed by him and are saved by Pellinore and a revived Questing Beast who successfully fends off the giant. Six years pass and Wart struggles with what the future will hold for him as Kay's squire. He sulks before the ceremony and is turned into a badger by Merlyn. He then meets a hedgehog and a badger. Merlyn announces he will be departing soon as he has nothing left to teach the boys. I haven’t read The Sword in the Stone for [spoiler removed] years. It has been far too long. I’d forgotten how good it is, funny, deliberately anachronistic (and brilliantly so) and moving at the end. T.H. White’s Merlin is right up there as my favourite characterisation of the great wizard, no mere Obi Wan Kenobi of a mentor, but a being who has a very complex story all in itself as he traverses life in reverse time. I love reading these stories to my son for bed time. I’m a voice actor and I hope that he enjoys listening to it just as much as I do reading it to him.Before Camelot, before Excalibur and the Round Table, and Lancelot and Guinevere, there was a boy who would one day be the legendary King Arthur. THE HALLOWED ISLE - King Arthur: The Book of the Sword; The Book of the Spear; The Book of the Cauldron; The Book of the Stone If you decide to read this, look for an unabridged edition with the author's illustrations. I read the Time-Life edition. There should be lots of words and terms you've never encountered before. Unless, of course, you are an expert on Norman England, falconry, hunting boars, long-ago dog breeds, tilting, jousting and medieval butchery.

Arthur is known as the Wart and is raised by Ector, as in other variations. He is 'educated' by Merlin, who just turns him into numerous animals throughout the narrative: an ant, a merlin (of course), a fish. These were humorous to read but the narrative did get repetitive. The sword is in the stone, etc. I think that this story is trying to say that just because you’re not strong doesn’t mean that your heart can’t be strong and it’s not always about the muscles it’s about your heart and what it can be strong about.Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide. Get started Close A young boy named Wart, being fostered in the home of Sir Ector, finds himself being tutored by the wizard Merlyn in this classic treatment of the youth of King Arthur. Transformed into various different creatures during the course of his education - a fish, a hawk, an ant, a goose and a badger - Wart learns about the nature of power and of warfare, and is taught to question the issues of fairness and justice. Unbeknownst to him, he is in training for his future as a king, and the book ends at the tournament in London, where the future monarch will be revealed by his ability to pull the sword from its stone... The Sword in the Stone” is the first book of “The Once and Future King” volumes written by T.H. White during the same period Tolkien was writing The Lord of the Rings and C.S Lewis creating the world of Narnia—other epic, fantasy novels, which gave birth to the new movement of magical realism—a movement in which magical elements are part of an otherwise realistic environment. The Once and Future King is such an Arthurian fantasy novel.

The Sword in the Stone is one of my favourite Disney movies, so of course I had to read the book(s) eventually too. And doing it though audiobooks was definitely the right choice because the narrator made my life. Appeal: quirky, familiar and vivid characters, relaxed pace, coming of age story, third person omniscient, cinematic, detailed, rural, bittersweet, humorous, poetic, nostalgic with unusual and conversational language. Before there was a famous king named Arthur, there was a curious boy named Wart and a kind old wizard named Merlyn. Transformed by Merlyn into the forms of his fantasy, Wart learns the value of history from a snake, of education from a badger, and of courage from a hawk--the lessons that help turn a boy into a man. Together, Wart and Merlyn take the reader through this timeless story of childhood and adventure--The Sword in the Stone.

Finding Your Story

The Sword in the Stone, a music composition for a 1939 six-part radio show composed by Benjamin Britten