It stimulates one's imagination with unusual events such as Merlin turning Arthur into a hawk as an educational experience. It is a great tale that includes magic and adventure as well as day-to-day life. White's 'The Once and Future King.' Book 1 tells of Arthur's childhood and his ascension to the throne. The Sword in the Stone is the first book of T.H. This is a good book to challenge an adolescent reader and while some of the scenes might be a little morbid, this is a book that a preteen could read by themselves without need of parental guidance or post-reading discussion. There are hints of gruesome endings that, in themselves, might be a little shocking, but are no worse than the old Grimm's fairy tales. It is also a suspenseful book where Arthur and others around him face the real prospect of death.

There is little doubt as to whom one is supposed to (and can happily) cheer for, feel empathy for, or jeer against. Generally, the 'good' characters are clearly and genuinely good, the compromised characters have clear strengths and weaknesses, and the 'bad' characters are clearly evil. There were just a few expletives and one bawdy song (which took me some time to explain to my 9 year old daughter). This was a mostly wholesome tale that includes some history (medieval England), a lot of fantasy (magic and mythological creatures) some difficult-to-understand weirdness (the anachronisms with Merlin's moving backward through time) and a lot of tutorials (delivered in dry Middle English). I am writing this review at some remove from the reading experience, thus it will lack the detail I typically try to include.

Sword in the stone novel